


A Snake in Lion's clothing

by disaster_top



Series: A Snake in Lion's clothing [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Canon Rewrite, F/F, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Gryffindor Pansy Parkinson, I'm projecting because I need a friend like Daphne Greengrass, Inter-House Friendships, Literally a retelling of HP but i made Pansy the main focus, Maybe I'll add some drarry?, Oh also, Pansy Parkinson-centric, Pansy gets into too much trouble, Pre-Relationship, She's more interwoven with the plot, Snape may be less of a jerk, Sorry if anyone seems too OOC, The Slytherin are all chaotic neutral, The pansmione happens later, Trans Female Character, Trans Pansy Parkinson, Transphobia, but no promises, cause they're literally eleven, kind of?, the power of friendship will compel Voldemort to fuck off, while writing I need to remind myself that they are all eleven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24910828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disaster_top/pseuds/disaster_top
Summary: “Gryffindor!”That single word rang through the Great Hall, followed by the gasp of the student underneath the Sorting Hat and half of the Slytherin table.Pansy Parkinson had just been sorted into Gryffindor.She was so going to get a howler for this...
Relationships: Daphne Greengrass & Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy & Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger & Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Pansy Parkinson & Harry Potter, Pansy Parkinson & Ron Weasley
Series: A Snake in Lion's clothing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802563
Comments: 19
Kudos: 141





	1. A Gryffindor

“Gryffindor!”

That single word rang through the Great Hall, followed by the gasp of the student underneath the Sorting Hat and half of the Slytherin table.

Pansy Parkinson had just been sorted into Gryffindor. She could already hear her mothers’ disapproval.

She was so going to get a howler for this.

Pansy slowly got up, ignoring the frowns from the Slytherin table and the glares from the Gryffindor table, which she was now walking towards. The pretty girl that she had sat with on the boat coming here sent her a cautious smile.

Pansy tried to smile back.

She sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, away from her housemates...Merlin, it was strange to say that.

Pansy tuned out the rest of the sorting, debating on whether or not she should ask the Headmaster to be sorted again. At least until the same curly-haired girl sat next to her and introduced herself. “Hello, I’m Hermione Granger. Can I know your name?” Pansy looked at the girl, confusion present on her face. She gestured towards the rest of the crowded table. “Why aren’t you sitting there?”

Hermione sighed, shaking her head. “It is rude to ignore someones’ question but if you must know, I simply wanted to get to know you.” Pansy shrugged, pointing towards the rest of the Gryffindors. “Can’t you read the mood? I’m not wanted here, if you hang out with me you’ll be the outcast.” Hermione shrugged. “I do not worry about such trifle things. Now, may I know your name?” Pansy laughed in disbelief, this girl was interesting...And rather pretty now that she was this close to Pansy. “Well Granger, I am Pansy Parkinson.” Hermione smiled. “Pleasure to meet you, Pan-” She was cut off mid-sentence by two people sitting right in front of them. Pansy looked up and recognized one of the Weasley offsprings’ and Harry Potter.

Harry waved at Pansy nervously. “Uh...Hi. You two looked lonely here so I thought it would be cool if we sat together and got to know each other.” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to be associated with me? I mean, I should have been Slytherin. And he knows it.” She sneered, tilting her chin towards the Weasley. Ron scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, you were sorted into Gryffindor, that must mean something.” Pansy shrugged. “Fair point I suppose.” She grabbed a chicken leg from one of the platters that had appeared on the tables. Ron took this as a go-ahead, grabbing two chicken legs before wolfing them down.

Nothing noteworthy happened during dinner, besides Dumbledore warning the students to not go wandering in the Forbidden Forest or on the third-floor corridor. Pansy internally scoffed, someone would be stupid enough to go to one if not both of those places despite the warning, most likely someone from her own house.

Pansy had hoped that the three Gryffindors would leave her alone after dinner but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon apparently. Hermione seemed to have made it her mission to befriend Pansy, Potter just wanted someone else to hang out with and the Weasley probably just stuck around to call her out on her bullshit.

Thankfully, the boys left her alone when she entered the girls’ dormitory in the Gryffindor Common room. She didn’t miss the confused stare that the Fat Lady gave her when she entered with the other Gryffindors.

She found her uniform neatly folded on what she guessed was going to be her bed, along with her trunk and her owl, Caspian, who was asleep in her cage.

“Is she yours?”

Pansy inhaled sharply, turning towards the intruder. “What the bloody hell are you doing here Granger!?” Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. “This is my dorm as well, in case you haven’t noticed you are not alone here.” Pansy huffed, going back to her trunk as she began unloading it.

Hermione approached her bed, delicately opening the owl cage on it, allowing a now awake Caspian to fly out and find her place on Pansys’ shoulder. Pansy sent the owl a pointed look. “Do not bite my ear or I will be feeding you carrots for the rest of the year.” The owl tilted her head in acknowledgment, rubbing against Pansys’ cheek affectionately. Hermione cooed in excitement. “She’s adorable.” Pansy hummed, shooing the owl off her shoulder. “Yeah, until she starts stealing your food.” Hermione laughed, before making her way to her bed and unpacking her trunk.

Pansy shrugged, hopefully, tomorrow will be somewhat normal.

***-***-***

It seemed that normal wasn’t going to be making an appearance in her life anytime soon.

She was currently in a joint Potion class between Slytherin and Gryffindor. The only good thing about her situation was that some of the Slytherin, for whatever reason, were still willing to associate with her even though she was a Gryffindor.

This fact was, however, overshadowed by Hermione sitting to her right and Potter and Weasley sitting in front of her even though a Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass, was already sitting to her left.

Daphne leaned towards her cautiously. “Are you, friends, with them?” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “Who? Potter and Weasley?” Daphne nodded. Pansy offered her a shrug. “I don’t know. It’s not like I tried to talk to them.”

“It seems fame isn’t everything Mr. Potter.” Snape’s monotone voice rang around the classroom. Pansy turned her attention back to Snape as he berated Harry for not knowing the answer to a question.

“10 points from Gryffindor.”

Pansy groaned in annoyance, the first bloody day and they already had points docked from their house because of the ‘Boy who lived’.

“Miss Parkinson, perhaps you could answer the question. Where would you look if I told you to find a Bezoar?” Snape asked, turning his attention towards Pansy.

“A goats' stomach, Professor.”

Snape remained silent for a few seconds and Pansy was starting to wonder if she had actually gotten the question wrong until Snape nodded his head towards her, his expression softening slightly for a second before reverting back to his emotionless mask.

“Correct, 10 points for Gryffindor.”

Pansy sighed, well at least she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself. Hermione sent her a smile before turning back towards the front of the classroom. Daphne lightly nudged her shoulder. “What?” Pansy grumbled. Daphne smirked, gesturing towards Hermione. “And is she one of your friends?” Pansy sent Daphne a glare, despite the blush that was making its way onto her face. “Shut up Greengrass. You should know that I wouldn’t ever associate with a muggle-born” The Gryffindor muttered, hiding her face from the blonde.

After Potions, she had a free period, in which she was determined to stay away from any and all Gryffindors. Before she could go hide in the library she was ambushed by Draco, Daphne, and Millicent and led towards the, currently, empty Quidditch pitch.

“So, I assume your mother is ready to murder you after that stunt you pulled at the Sorting ceremony?” Millicent mumbled around the cookie she had been sharing with Daphne. Pansy groaned, laying on the grass with her arms spread out. “I don’t know Millie, I just let the hat do its thing and it picked bloody Gryffindor.”

Draco sneered. “Well, you’re lucky that we are friends, or I would have cut ties with you completely.” Daphne smacked his arm. “Do shut up Draco, Pansy’s been our friend since forever. I, for one, refuse to abandon her over something she has no control over.” Millicent nodded. “I agree, you’re the only person that my cat actually likes, besides me.” Pansy chuckled, reaching back to pat Millicent’s knee in appreciation. “Thanks, I guess. Now I can only wait for the Howler my mother will be sending me.”

“Sorry Pans, I can’t imagine what it’s like for you, being in a house with blood traitors and Mudbloods, at least Ravenclaws have standards.” Draco cringed. Pansy hummed in acknowledgment, focusing her attention on the clouds above.

“That looks like a diamond,” Daphne stated, pointing at one of the clouds. Draco shook his head. “No, are you blind? That is clearly a pair of glasses!”

Millicent snorted. “Oh, does someone have a crush on Harry Potter?” Draco sputtered. “W-what? How on Earth did you come to that conclusion Bulstrode?! A-and I’m not queer!” Millicent shrugged. “Nothing wrong with being queer Malfoy.” Draco huffed. “Of course it is wrong! My father said that only the vilest of creatures would dare go against the natural order of things.”

Daphne glanced at Pansy, who was trying to tune out the conversation and was instead counting the clouds in the sky. “Draco you aren’t at Malfoy Manor, you don’t need to constantly agree with your father’s opinions.” Milicent nodded along. “Yeah, what does your mother think about the issue?” Draco rubbed his arm nervously. “My mother has no issue with them, says that her niece is queer-”

“Well there, be more like your mother!” Daphne exclaimed. Draco looked at Pansy, who had been ignoring the conversation. “I-I don’t know. I guess that if someone I know was queer, I wouldn’t have that much of a problem with it…” Pansy shook her head, she stood and was about to leave when Draco stood as well and grabbed her arm. “Pansy, I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter Draco-” Pansy began. “No, it does! I let my father’s stupid opinion cause even more problems!” Draco groaned. “I don’t want us to stop being friends over any of this, Pans. I’m sorry.”

Pansy sighed, holding a hand up. “Look Draco it’s fine, just please try not to always take your father’s side, he can be wrong you know?” Draco nodded. “Sorry, don’t tell anyone about this.” Daphne nodded. “It’s fine Draco. Do you guys want to play hide and seek?”

Pansy grinned. “Yes.” Millicent and Draco both laughed as they designated Daphne as the seeker, which she was definitely not too happy about.

In retrospect, maybe this year wouldn’t be too hard. Especially if she had friends like these to keep her company.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Aside from Snape none of the other teachers had given them a ton of homework to do and that Pansy was thankful for.

When she returned to the Gryffindor Common room in the evening she expected most of her housemates to be sleeping. Instead, she was met with nearly every Gryffindor yelling in the Common room with no regard for those who were obviously trying to do homework.

To make matters worse, the entire room quieted when she entered. Pansy rolled her eyes before finding an empty armchair near the fireplace and taking out her Potions homework.

When the others kept staring at her she waved her Potions textbook around “Snape gave us a load of homework, forgive me if I want to finish it as early as possible”

She received a few nods and Seamus and Dean actually walked over to her and suggested that they study together. She agreed, might as well start making friends if she was going to be stuck in Gryffindor for the next seven years.

***-***-***

The next day wasn’t much different.

Even though Pansy had told herself that she had to make friends in Gryffindor she was still suspicious of some of them. Weasley, for example, was actually being civil towards her and she couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was because Potter and Finnigan seemed comfortable around her?

“Can you pass the chicken?” Pansy glared at Ron, turning back towards her Potion textbook. Ron sent Harry a ‘See what I have to deal with’ look before going back to his plate of pudding. Harry sighed, deciding to leave Pansy alone.

Suddenly, the sound of owls screeching filled the great hall as owls of various sizes flew in, carrying their owner’s mail.

Ron had several letters and a copy of the Daily Prophet land in front of him. Pansy had no such luck as both of her letters landed right onto her head. She glared at her owl, who calmly perched herself atop her shoulder. “You’re a little shite, you know that?” Her owl tilted her head, grabbing a piece of chicken before flying towards the owlery.

Pansy took one look at the bright red envelope and knew she was in trouble. Neville chanced a look at the envelope and cringed. “You might want to open that, ignoring it is not a good idea.” Pansy nodded, getting up from the table and heading for the Black Lake with the howler and her letter.

She took a deep breath before cautiously opening the howler. It immediately flew up to Pansys’ eye level and began reciting its message in her mother’s loud, angry voice.

“Paul Preston Parkinson! I cannot believe that you would shame your family in such a way! I will not say that I didn’t expect any rebellion from you, but this?! Being sorted into Gryffindor? You have truly shamed us all! I trust that you have spoken with the Headmaster to have you be moved to Slytherin? If you have not, do so this instant or so help me! Do not bother returning home for Christmas, you are not wanted here! Hopefully, this will give you time to truly think about what you have done! I am, however, pleased to hear that Severus has enjoyed having you in his Potion class so far, this is the only reason you are not facing harsher punishment. Concerning the second letter, I expect a response as quickly as possible, you know how your father gets. I honestly expected more from you, Paul. Refrain from bringing more shame onto the Parkinson name!”

Pansy watched as the howler set itself on fire right after. She groaned in annoyance, before opening the second letter and reading through it.

“Well...your mother sounds lovely.”

Pansy turned around and saw Hermione standing behind her. “Yes well, there is nothing worse than being sorted into anything but Slytherin in my family. The only way I could do something worse is if I got sorted into Hufflepuff.” Pansy mused.

“I understand.” Hermione smiled slightly. “May I ask why your mother said ‘Paul’ when referring to you?” Pansy shook her head. “I think it’s a little early for me to be telling you about that.” Hermione hummed. “Okay, I will not pry.”

Pansy cleared her throat awkwardly. “Uh...Would you like me to accompany you to our next class?” Hermione laughed. “Of course, we wouldn’t want to be late.”

***-***-***

“Good afternoon class, and welcome to your first flying lesson.” Madame Hooch, the silver-haired Quidditch coach exclaimed. “Now, in this lesson, you will all learn the basics of flying a broom, we will not be learning any silly muggle circus tricks. Is that clear?” She received some scattered nods from the students gathered around her. “Very well, now hold your hand over the broom and say ‘Up’ in a firm voice.”

Pansy glanced down at the broom at her feet. “Hey, Pansy!” Looking up, she saw Draco standing in front of her, broom already in his grasp. “Bet you can’t get yours on the first try.” Pansy grinned before looking down at her broom. “Up.” She sent Draco a smirk as the broom lifted into her hand with ease.

Draco returned the smirk, he then turned his attention to Hermione who was having trouble getting her broom to cooperate. Draco sneered, turning towards Crabbe and Goyle. “Looks like  the muggle can’t get her broom up.” The two laughed along with Draco. Pansy rolled her eyes at Draco’s antics.

She placed a hand on Hermiones’ shoulder. “Granger, you’re doing it wrong.” Hermione looked up at her, she almost looked like an offended owl.

“Really? Then what, pray tell, am I doing wrong.” Hermione huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Pansy chuckled. “Well, first of all, are you confident in your ability to lift this broom  from the floor?” Hermione looked down at the ground and mumbled. “No…” Pansy nodded. “That’s where your problem is, you need to be able to channel your confidence into your words so that the broom will, in a manner, understand that you mean business, yeah?” Hermione nodded. “Yes, thank you, Pansy.”

“No problem,” Pansy muttered.

Madame Hooch waited for each of them to have a firm grasp on their broom before giving them more instructions. “Now, you must straddle your broom, make sure you have a good grasp on it, then you will push off the ground and your broom should hover off the ground. Do not fly all about, that is not what the lesson is about.”

Pansy gripped her broom, going onto her toes before pushing off the ground. Hermione did the same, letting out a yelp as she nearly fell off her broom. Luckily, Pansy was able to reach over and grab Hermiones’ arm, saving her from a meeting with the ground below. Pansy chuckled. “How’s the world from down there, Granger?”

As soon as Hermione was sitting upright on her broom again, she smiled at Pansy in appreciation. “Thank you.” Pansy was about to respond when Nevilles’ broom decided to take him around for a ride. Pansy couldn’t hold in her chuckle at Nevilles’ misfortunes, she felt less out of place when all of the Slytherin burst out laughing after Madame Hooch took Neville to the hospital wing.

And since Draco was clearly a Slytherin, he decided to pick a fight with Harry Potter.

“Give it back Malfoy!” Harry yelled at Draco, who had flown away from the group, Neville’s Remembrall grasped in his hand. Draco simply laughed from atop his broom. “No, I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find.”

Harry immediately mounted his broom and flew up to meet Draco. “I said, give it back!” Draco smirked, sending Pansy a look. “Sure, I’ll give it back but only on one condition.” Harry frowned. “Name it.”

Pansy already knew what was coming but it still didn’t stop her from groaning in annoyance when she heard Draco. “Race against Parkinson, whoever wins will get Longbottom’s toy.”

Pansy had already straddled her broom and was about to take flight when Hermione held her back. “No Pansy, you heard Madame Hooch, you’ll be expelled. And besides, you don’t even know how to fly properly yet!” Pansy sneered. “You shouldn’t make assumptions Granger. It’s very unbecoming.” And she took off towards Harry and Draco.

Draco sent her a smile. “Glad to see that you still have the Slytherin pride.” Harry scoffed. “She’s a Gryffindor Malfoy, piss off.”

Pansy rolled her eyes, tiredly. “Can we get this over with? I’ d rather not get expelled, and I’m sure your mother won’t appreciate it either Draco.” Draco sniggered, holding up Nevilles’ Remembrall. “Sure whatever. I’ll throw this and the first to catch it gets to keep it.”

Pansy waited until the Remembrall left Dracos’ hand before she flew towards it. She grinned when she heard the gasps from the kids who had been watching. Harry didn’t take long to  catch up to her though. She turned towards him with a grin before kicking him in the side and taking the lead.

Harry was quick on the recovery though, swiveling around and diving in front of Pansy. She watched as the boy flew in front of her. Grumbling, she shot up, propelling herself higher into the air. She saw Harry look back and grin when he saw no one following him.

She waited for him to catch the Remembrall, halting in front of a large building. She then dove down, grabbing the Remembrall from his hands and flying back towards Draco. Harry was quick to follow after her, trying to grab the stolen object.

Unbeknownst to them, McGonagall had seen everything from her window and she already knew what she was going to do regarding the situation.

Pansy landed on the ground, balancing the Remembrall on a finger. “Ever the show-off I see.” Draco mocked. Pansy rolled her eyes at him. “You're one to talk Draco.”

Harry landed near her and smiled nervously. “You’re really good at this.” Pansy chuckled. “You’re not so bad yourself, Potter, especially for a half-blood.” Clapping was heard from the crowd of students and Pansy was quick to drag Harry into an exaggerated bow much to Draco’s amusement.

“Miss Parkinson, Mr. Potter, follow me!” Pansy and Harry turned to see Professor McGonagall walking towards them in long strides. They looked at each other nervously before following after the Professor. Pansy glared at Draco, who simply waved at her, a grin present on his face.

They followed McGonagall to Quirrells’ classroom, and Pansy was sure that Harry nearly pissed himself when he heard McGonagall ask for wood.

Instead, a seventh year Gryffindor stood before them. “Potter, Parkinson, this is Oliver Wood the captain and keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.” Harry waved at him awkwardly, Wood simply smiled at both of them. “Hello, what is this for Professor?” McGonagall gestured towards Pansy and Harry. “I believe Potter and Parkinson should be integrated into Gryffindor's Quidditch team.” Wood frowned. “But Professor, they’re first years?” McGonagall nodded, Pansy was baffled as she watched McGonagall act like a giddy child. “You are correct, but they certainly have the skill to hold their own in a match.” Wood shrugged. “If you want them on the team I can arrange a practice tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Wood. I’ll leave you to your classes.”

Wood turned towards the two first years. “Be on the pitch tomorrow before lunch. I’ll teach you the basics and give you your field positions.”

When he left, Pansy turned toward Harry in confusion. “What the bloody hell just happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, this is my first fic so sorry if it's not that good.
> 
> Second, yes, I am writing Pansy as trans so if you're not okay with that you don't need to read this though it's not really the focus of the fic. I am not trans but I have had issues with my gender and gender identity (I'm non-binary btw) so I'll try to portray her struggles as best I can but if any of you have suggestions I will gladly hear them.


	2. Old and new friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New friends are made, though Pansy probably didn't have much of a say in that...

“So now you two are part of the Quidditch team?” Ron asked as they walked through the halls of Hogwarts.

Pansy shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much” Ron snorted, gesturing towards Harry. “I get Harry but why you?” Pansy glared at the redhead. “I have talent, and I’ve been flying on brooms since I was like, five Weasley. And not one of those knock-offs that your brothers need to fly on.” Harry cleared his throat nervously. “But...Why me? I had never touched a broom before today.”

“It’s in your blood.”

The three of them turned around and saw Hermione walking by them.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked curiously.

Not even five minutes later they were standing in front of a glass box with famous Hogwarts Quidditch players' names engraved on gold plates.

So it turned out that Harry’s father was a spectacular seeker when he was at Hogwarts.

Figures.

It was just their rotten luck that they got stuck on the third floor. The forbidden third floor, because of some stupid moving staircases.

And of course, Mrs. Norris would find them on the one corridor of the one floor that was forbidden in the whole castle.

They were now cramped up in a room, hiding from Filch. “Remind me to kill all of you after this,” Pansy hissed in annoyance. Hermione gasped, unhappy that she was being accused of getting them into this mess. “What? I wasn’t the one who decided to run onto a forbidden floor!” Pansy huffed. “Oh stuff it, Granger, you’re part in this is the same as all of ours.”

“Uh...Guys...What is that?”

Ron’s weepy voice made Pansy turn around, and Merlin did she wish she hadn’t. Not even a meter away from them was a huge, three-headed dog, who was clearly unhappy that it had been awoken from its slumber.

“I vote we run,” Pansy muttered.

“Seconded.”

“Thirded.”

“Will you just start running already?!”

They scrambled to exit the room as quickly as possible, pushing against the door to close it against the snapping maw of the beast inside.

Once they were safely located in their common room, Hermione finally snapped. “What is wrong with you three?!”

Pansy grumbled, wiping dog drool from her robe. “We aren’t the ones who decided to shove a bloody three-headed dog inside the equivalent of a large broom closet!” Ron nodded along with her. “It wasn’t put there randomly, it was guarding something.” Hermione hissed.

“What?” Harry asked. “It was standing on a trapdoor.” Harry shared a look with Pansy and Ron as Hermione composed herself. “Now if you three are done, I’m going to bed before you drag me along on another adventure that will get us killed, or worse, expelled,” Hermione stated before turning on her heels and entering the girls’ dorm.

“She needs to sort out her priorities,” Ron muttered and Pansy couldn’t help but agree with him. “Well, goodnight boys. Let’s try not to involve Miss Smarty-pants in another one of our quests next time, yeah?” Ron nodded. “I can get behind that.”

Harry waved at her as she walked towards the girls’ dorm. “See you tomorrow for practice, Pansy.” She waved back. “Yeah, see you later Potter.”

As soon as Pansy entered the dorm her eyes were drawn to the lump under the covers on Hermione’s bed. She walked over to the bed, staring down at the figure under the covers. “Sorry.” She muttered. Not seeing any movement under the covers, she walked over to her own bed and settled in.

***-***-***

“Thanks for the help, Parkinson.”

Pansy tried to hide her exhaustion from Wood, simply giving him a shrug as they deposited the large trunk on the ground of the Quidditch pitch.

Harry watched intently as Wood opened the trunk. “Now, I’ll start with the basics. There are four positions in Quidditch, the chasers, the beaters, the keeper and the seeker…” Pansy stopped listening at that point, she already knew all of this information.

“Parkinson, you’ll be playing as a chaser, is that cool?” Wood asked. Pansy nodded, she would rather have been a beater, there was something therapeutic about hitting a bludger at people. “And Potter, you’ll be a seeker. Your only goal is to catch the golden snitch, you catch it, we get 150 points and win.” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “It’s not guaranteed, no?” Wood nodded. “Correct, but in matches like these the team who catches the snitch rarely loses.”

Harry smiled. “Sounds like fun.” Wood returned his smile. “Good, we usually have practice three times a week or more. Someone on the team will tell you those days since they change every week.” Now, this raised another issue.

Pansy didn’t have a broom.

***-***-***

After their short Quidditch lesson was over, Pansy and Harry went to the library.

“You know that you don’t need to follow me right?” Pansy said in irritation as Harry sat across from her at one of the tables in the library.

Harry shrugged nervously. “I need to finish writing the Potion essay about bezoars that Snape assigned us. If you want me to leave I can move somewhere else...” Pansy shook her head. “If you want to sit go ahead, just don’t make a lot of noise.” Harry nodded, taking out a parchment and his Potion textbooks.

Pansy was granted a solid five minutes of silence before Harry spoke again. “Can I ask you a question?” Pansy held in her sigh. “What Potter?”

Harry wrung his fingers nervously. “Why were a bunch of Gryffindors unhappy that you were in our house? I don’t mean to pry. If you don’t want to answer you don’t need to.” Pansy looked up from her book, trying to look reassuring. “Haven’t you heard about my family? The Parkinsons were rumored to be supporters of the Dark Lord, and all of my family has been in Slytherin. I’m an anomaly.”

Harry frowned. “But...What do you think?” Pansy shrugged. “It’s the hat’s decision but I think it made a mistake putting me in Gryffindor. Don’t take it the wrong way, Potter. The hat took a while sorting you too, I’m sure you understand the second thoughts that the hat can have.”

“Uh...Pansy?”

Pansy looked back up at Harry, not bothering to hide her annoyance from him. “Yes, Potter?”

“Can you help me with the Potions essay?” Pansy rolled her eyes before moving to sit next to Harry. “Fine, but you owe me. Now, what are you not understanding?”

***-***-***

The next day, when Pansy entered her joint Transfiguration class with Gryffindor and Slytherin she was immediately surrounded by Draco and Blaise.

“Hey Pansy,” Blaise said, grinning at her. Pansy returned the grin. “Hello to you too Blaise, what can I do for you guys today?” Draco grabbed her arm. “Come on, you’re sitting with the Slytherin today.” And dragged her over to four empty seats on the far side of the classroom.

Daphne was already seated at one of the tables and patted the second seat, gesturing for Pansy to sit next to her. Pansy waved at her after silently elbowing Draco’s ribs. Draco grumbled under his breath and went to sit down as McGonagall entered the classroom.

“Good morning students! Welcome back to Transfiguration, I trust that I do not need to repeat the class rules to you, correct?” McGonagall received a few stray nods from some students. “Very well. On your desk, you may see that there is a beetle, I would like you to, preferably by the end of the lesson, be able to turn your beetle into an ink holder. The instructions are in your books on page thirty-seven, good luck.”

Pansy grabbed her Transfiguration textbook and opened it to the right page. She placed it in the middle of the desk so that Daphne could see the instructions as well. “I hope you know how to do this Greengrass,” Pansy muttered. Daphne chuckled. “Oh come on Parkinson, use that big brain of yours.” Pansy hummed, glaring down at her beetle.

“Hey, Parkinson.”

Pansy turned to her right and saw Seamus gesturing to get her attention. “What do you want?” Seamus glanced at his beetle. “I want to test something out on McGonagall.” Pansy frowned, leaning towards the boy. “And how do you suppose we do that?”

Seamus held up a spherical object. “I got this from Fred and George, they said that it would cause a fire, I need someone to distract McGonagall so that I can properly set it up.” Pansy raised an eyebrow, skeptically. “And I assume you want me to provide a distraction?” Seamus grinned, nodding nervously.

“Fine.” Pansy sighed, glancing back towards Professor McGonagall. “But I expect payment.” Seamus nodded, reaching into the pocket of his robe, pulling out two gold coins. “Two Galleons it is.” Pansy hummed in agreement. “Okay, wait a second.”

Pansy stood abruptly and stared at McGonagall. The professor frowned at her. “What on Earth are you doing Miss Parkinson?” Pansy held her wand out and pointed it towards McGonagall. The professor only had a moment to stare before Pansy shot a flock of paper birds at her. “Oppugno!”

McGonagall waved her wand and immediately dispelled the attack. She walked over to Pansy angrily. “Miss Parkinson, I don’t know what possessed you to do that but there will be consequences! Five points fro-”

The whole classroom was suddenly enveloped in smoke as one of the tables was set on fire, McGonagall momentarily forgot about Pansy as she turned and proceeded to immediately put out the fire. This, unfortunately, caused more smoke to fill the room, coughs could already be heard around the room.

Seamus handed Pansy two Galleons which the Gryffindor accepted gratefully.

McGonagall made quick work of the smoke, directing it out an opened window then she turned towards Pansy. “As I was saying, five points from Gryffindor and you will stay after class Miss Parkinson. Now, who’s bright idea was it to set fire to a table?”

The classroom was silent as McGonagall trained her stare on Pansy. “Miss Parkinson, is this your doing as well?”

Pansy shrugged. “Can’t say it was, Professor.” McGonagall gave her a pointed look before turning towards the other students. “Well, now you all have an essay to write about the consequences of using transfiguration too often, I expect it to be at least four feet and two inches and it is due tomorrow.”

Groans were heard throughout the room and Pansy spent the rest of the class trying to turn her beetle into an ink holder and being glared at by Hermione.

The class eventually ended and Seamus offered her an apologetic smile before exiting the room along with the other students. Daphne patted Pansy’s shoulder. “Don’t get into more trouble Pansy, your parents may start getting involved.” Pansy nodded, accepting the kiss that Daphne placed on her cheek. Draco waved at her. “Good luck Pans.”

Pansy watched them leave. She was brought back to reality by McGonagall clearing her throat. The Gryffindor quickly made her way towards the teacher’s desk.

McGonagall gestured for her to take a seat in front of her desk. Pansy did so, waiting for the lecture that she was sure she was going to get. “Miss Parkinson, why did you lash out with your wand? I do not believe that there was a reason for it.” Pansy shrugged, unhelpfully. “I learned the spell, wanted to test it out.”

“I don’t think that is the truth Miss Parkinson but I will not push you for an answer. Now, I will not give you detention this time but I expect this to be a one-time incident, is that clear?” Pansy nodded, arms crossed. “Yes Professor.”

McGonagall nodded to herself. “Very well, now off you go. I doubt Professor Flitwick will appreciate me making one of his students late.” Pansy silently stood from the seat and left the room. McGonagall watched the girl go. Her actions weren’t what she had expected from the Parkinson heir at all.

***-***-***

Charms definitely wasn’t the worst of her classes but it was up there. She was currently trying to levitate a feather off her desk, and no one else seemed to be getting it right.

“Hey, Parkinson,” Seamus whispered, leaning towards her. “What?” she responded, glaring at her unmoving feather. “Is it true that you and Harry made it onto the Quidditch team?” Pansy shrugged. “I guess, have you gotten your thing to hover yet?” Seamus looked down at his feather. “I don’t understand, I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing”

“Are you guys stuck too?” Ron asked. They both turned towards the ginger and nodded. “Try it again Seamus.”

“Wingardium Leviosa.” Pansy raised an eyebrow when nothing happened. “Are you sure you did it ri-” Suddenly the feather exploded, covering Seamus’s face with black soot. He huffed in annoyance, glaring down at the dark spot on his desk. “This class is rigged.” Pansy chuckled. “I reckon you just need to be more forceful with your delivery of the line.” Ron nodded. “I’ll give it a try then.” Seamus shrugged. “Parkinson and I will give you a galleon each if you get it right on the first try!”

“Oy!” Pansy exclaimed. Just as Ron tried to lift his feather.

He ultimately failed and Seamus offered Pansy a high five for their saved money. And of course, Hermione had to butt in.

“You’re saying it wrong, it’s Leviooosa, not Leviosa.” Ron scoffed. “You try it then.” Pansy dropped her head onto the table in exasperation, Seamus sent her a concerned look.

Hermione managed to lift the feather high into the air, and was, of course, praised by professor Flitwick. Pansy eventually managed to levitate her feather while Seamus and Ron tried to give her tips.

Pansy left as soon as they were dismissed, not wanting to be caught in any meaningless conversations with her housemates.

She quickly made her way towards the basement corridor, she walked towards the painting against one of the walls. Pansy looked around, making sure no one was there before tickling the pear in the painting, revealing a passageway that she cautiously climbed through. She silently thanked her father for telling her about most of the secret passageways in Hogwarts.

Entering the kitchen, she was immediately surrounded by a number of house-elves. “Hello Miss, would you like anything? Maybe some tea?” Pansy nodded. “Could I have some hot chocolate? Maybe some apple pie too.” The elves nodded. “Of course Miss, we’ll be right back.” Before scurrying away to prepare the food.

“You were polite to a house-elf? That’s a first.”

Pansy looked up and smiled as she took in the sight of one, Daphne Greengrass sitting on a couch in the corner of the kitchen. Pansy chuckled, walking towards the blonde. “Aren’t you the one who heckles me relentlessly when I mistreat one?”

Daphne chuckled. “True. Come here, we only have a few hours before curfew.” Pansy laughed, falling onto the couch, her head on Daphnes’ lap. “Comfortable?” Daphne asked jokingly. “Very.” Pansy sighed, wrapping her arms around Daphnes’ waist, burrowing further into her stomach.

The house-elves approached them moments later, bringing Pansys’ hot chocolate and two slices of apple pie. Daphne took them, thanking the house-elves gratefully and placing the items on the table near the couch.

“Gimme my chocolate, Greengrass,” Pansy mumbled as she slowly sat up, leaning an arm around Daphne’s shoulders as she tried to grab the mug in the blonde's hand. Daphne scoffed. “I dunno Parkinson, do you really deserve it?” Pansy whined. “Daph, please.” A piece of apple pie was brought close to her mouth. “Open.” Pansy rolled her eyes before complying. She chewed for a few moments before nodding her head. “It’s good.” Daphne smiled. “And here’s your drink.”

Pansy gratefully accepted the mug, downing half of its content in one gulp. “So, how have you been?” Daphne laughed. “You would know, what’s it like being in Gryffindor?” Pansy shrugged unhelpfully. “It’s not as bad as I thought. Most of them don’t care about my heritage.”

“Do any of them know about...You know?” Daphne gestured vaguely. Pansy chuckled. “No way am I telling them about that.”

Daphne nodded. “That’s good, and how exactly did you become associated with Potter, Weasley, and Granger?” Pansy chuckled. “I wouldn’t say that I’m friends with them, but we don’t hate each other I suppose.” Daphne shrugged. “Fair, I also heard that you made it into the Gryffindor Quidditch team. What’s up with that?”

Pansy delayed her response by taking another bite from her apple pie. “Well, McGonagall caught Potter and I flying on our brooms while Hooch took Longbottom to the hospital wing. So she decided that we were good enough for the team.” Daphne chuckled. “Damn, now I really don’t know who I should be supporting.” Pansy frowned at her, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Your first game is against Slytherin.”

Ah, that certainly would complicate things.

***-***-***

They remained in the kitchen until the house-elves warned them that they should be returning to their dorm before someone came looking for them.

Pansy stood in the hallway quietly, waiting for Daphne as the girl thanked the house-elves for the food. From the corner of her eye, Pansy saw someone sneaking around the halls. She glanced back at Daphne, making sure that she was occupied before approaching the end of the hallway.

As she turned the corner she was met with the tall figures of Fred and George Weasley. Both boys turned towards her, guilty looks present on their faces.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Pansy asked cautiously. Fred held up a letter with the familiar seal of the Parkinson estate. Pansy paused, nervously looking between the twins. “Did you read it?”

George grimaced guiltily. “Well, you see-”

“Oooh, students wandering the halls? Naughty naughty!”

All three turned towards the booming voice and saw Peeves gleefully flying towards them. He flew down and grabbed the letter, opening it. “Now then, let’s see what this is, perhaps a love letter? Oh, the mystery!”

Pansy tried to silence the poltergeist but Peeves had already begun reading the content of the letter out loud. “Paul, your father wants to know whether you plan on joining Quidditch next year, you might want to masquerade as a girl but you will still play. Be quick with a response you know how much your father hates to wai-”

“Shut up! What do you think you’re doing?!” Daphne yelled as she approached them. Peeves frowned. “It seems like I may have made a mistake-” Daphne snarled. “Of course you did! Playing pranks is one thing but denouncing private information that you shouldn’t even know is another. Apologize to her this instant Peeves!”

Peeves looked down apologetically, handing the letter back to Pansy. “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I guess as an apology I’ll leave you alone for today, but if I catch you out of bed again Dumbledore will hear about it.”

Pansy watched with a troubled expression as Peeves flew away from them. Daphne walked up to the Gryffindor, glaring at the twins. “Why are you two here?” Fred cleared his throat. “Well, originally we were going to play a prank on Filch but we saw that letter lying on the floor of the Common room so we took it, saw that it was meant for Parkinson-”

“And you decided to walk through the halls looking for her when you could have just waited for her in the Common room?” Daphne completed.

Fred chuckled. “Well yeah, sorry Parkinson.” Pansy frowned. “You’re, apologizing to me? You’re not the one who read the letter out loud.” George shrugged. “Still, we probably should have waited for you in the Common room. We should also go to the Great Hall now, they’re probably finishing dinner.” Pansy’s frown deepened. “So, you don’t have any questions about the content of the letter?”

George laughed. “Now now Parkinson, we might be jackasses but we wouldn’t involve ourselves in matters between families that don’t concern us. All I will say is that your mother sounds like a right piece of work.”

Pansy stood rooted in place as she watched the twins skip away from them. Daphne raised an eyebrow. “What was it you said about not telling any Gryffindors about-”

“Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of have a schedule for the next chapters.
> 
> I will be updating every other day, hopefully.


	3. An uneasy friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Quidditch time!

Everything had gone to shit.

There was a fully grown troll walking around the Dungeons, all the students were panicking as teachers scrambled to maintain order, and Harry couldn’t, for the life of him, find Pansy or Hermione.

He grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him away from the group of Gryffindors heading for their Common room. “Oy! What is it mate? We need to go to the Common room!” Ron hissed in surprise. “Ron, do you know where Hermione is?” Harry asked cautiously as Ron frowned in confusion. “Wait. Didn’t Seamus say that she was in the girls’ bathroom?”

Harry nodded eagerly. “So we should go and get her, what with the troll walking around-” Ron nodded. “You have a point, let’s go then.” Harry smiled, happy that he was being taken seriously.

They made their way down to the corridor where the bathroom Hermione was hiding in was, they both hid behind one of the pillars as they saw the troll lumbering down the corridor. “I think the troll left the Dungeon.” Harry whispered, “Should we still go?” Ron questioned.

They both jumped as they heard a sound come from behind them.

“What are you two doing here?” Pansy drawled as Harry and Ron calmed themselves. Both boys sent a questioning glance towards Daphne, who was standing near Pansy. “Uh...We were looking for you and Hermione.” Harry mumbled. Daphne frowned. “Why? What happened?”

Ron scoffed. “There’s a troll running around the corridor.” Pansy gasped. “Daphne, you should go then. You could get hurt and-” Daphne laughed. “Thank you for the vote of confidence Pansy, but yeah, I should probably go.” She planted a kiss on Pansy’s cheek before running off towards the Dungeons.

Pansy remained frozen in shock, processing what had just happened. Ron snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Oy Parkinson, we still need to find Hermione before the troll does.” Pansy cleared her throat, following them towards the girls’ bathroom. “So, how do you two know that Granger is hiding in the bathroom?”

Harry looked at Ron nervously. “Well...She may have heard someone talking badly about her behind her back...After Charms.” Pansy stared at the two of them in disbelief. “It was Weasley, wasn’t it? Really? Do you ever know when to keep your judgmental opinions to yourself?” Ron crossed his arms in annoyance, feeling a little guilty for what he had said about the bookworm.

They cautiously entered the bathroom, hearing the screams and crashes from inside. Pansy saw Hermione huddled underneath one of the sinks, which was about to be smashed by the troll’s club. She ran towards the quivering girl, managing to push her out of the way before the club crashed through the rows of sinks.

“Ron! Hit it over the head!” She heard Harry yell.

“Well, why don’t you do it, Harry?!”

Pansy grumbled under her breath, rolling out from under the remains of the sinks and pointing her wand at the trolls head. “Stupefy!”

The spell didn’t quite hit home as it only distracted the troll for a total of five seconds. The troll then managed to grab Harry and Pansy was honestly beginning to wonder how competent the school was.

“Guys! Do something!” Harry shrieked as the troll repeatedly tried to smack him with the club.

“Weasley! Levitate the club!” Pansy yelled, pulling Hermione away from the troll. Ron cleared his throat. “Ron! Swish and flick!” Hermione yelled as Pansy shielded her from the rubble falling from the ceiling.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” Ron yelled. The troll brought his arm down towards Harry before realizing that its hand was empty. It stared at its empty hand, slowly looking up and seeing its club floating above its head. Ron let go of the spell, dropping the club over the trolls head, effectively knocking it out.

Pansy grimaced when Harry went to pull his wand out of the troll’s nose. “Is it, like...Dead?” Ron asked cautiously. Pansy walked up to the troll’s head and kicked it when it didn’t respond she turned back towards the other three Gryffindors. “It’s knocked out.”

Suddenly the sound of footsteps rushing towards them could be heard. A few moments later, McGonagall entered the bathroom followed closely by Snape and Quirrell.

Snape immediately walked towards the troll, looking over the body as McGonagall turned her attention towards Harry, Ron, and Pansy. “What on earth are you doing here? Do you have any idea of how much danger you put yourself in? Why are you not in your dormitories?” Pansy cringed slightly, they were definitely going to lose house points for this.

“It was me, Professor.”

They all turned to look at Hermione as the girl stepped out from behind Pansy.

“Miss Granger?” McGonagall asked in confusion. Hermione took a deep breath before continuing. “It was my fault, I heard about the troll and believed that I had the right skills to take it down, as you can see I was clearly mistaken. I was lucky that Harry, Ron, and Pansy were here to save me, without them I would surely be dead.”

Pansy met Ron's questioning stare to which she simply shrugged. They tried to not show too much confusion on their face, playing along with Hermiones’ lie.

McGonagall cleared her throat. “Well, in that case...Miss Granger, what were you thinking? Hurry back to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses. Ten points will be taken from Gryffindor for your foolishness.” She turned towards the other three students in the bathroom. “As for you three, you are extremely fortunate to have survived. Most first years would not have taken on a fully grown mountain troll and lived to tell the tale. For that, you will be given five points, each...For sheer dumb luck and for showing that chivalry has not died yet. Now go to your dorm, all of you.”

They hurried away from the bathroom towards the dormitories. Ron huffed. “We deserve more than fifteen points,” Pansy grumbled. “You mean five, with the amount Granger lost.” Harry looked at his hand nervously. “It wasn’t her fault, she wouldn’t have been in the bathroom if we hadn’t insulted her.”

Pansy held a hand up towards Harry. “Don’t blame yourself, Potter. Weasley was the one that talked shit about her, he should apologize,” Ron grumbled. “I helped her, we’re even now.”

Harry cleared his throat nervously before speaking. “Did you two notice Snape’s leg?” Pansy snorted. “You mean the fact that he has legs?” Ron snickered at that, much to Harry’s dismay. “No! His pant leg was ripped, and there was a cut on his leg!”

Ron patted him on the back. “Look, mate, we just saved someone from a troll. I think we deserve some rest.” Pansy nodded. “I second that notion.” Ron gasped. “Are you agreeing with me? Everyone, get the cameras and the microphones! Pansy Parkinson agreed with Ronald Weasley!” Pansy hummed. “Yes, don’t make me regret it, Weasley.” Ron chuckled nervously. “I retract my previous statement

They arrived in front of the painting of the Fat Lady, muttering the password before entering their Common room.

Hermione stopped them before they were able to enter their separated dorms. “Thank you for saving me.” Ron and Harry nodded before hurrying towards where the food was. Pansy sighed heavily, patting Hermione on the shoulder. “I think you’ll be happy to know that Weasley is sorry for what he said about you.” Hermione hummed. “Although that is considerate, he could have said it to my face.”

Pansy shrugged. “I mean, I get why he didn’t. You’re pretty intimidating Granger.” Hermione laughed in disbelief. “How am I intimidating? I don’t really have much muscle, and I do not believe that I am very scary-looking.” Pansy cleared her throat, trying to hide her blush. “Well, you’re really...passionate Granger.” Hermione frowned, rubbing her arm nervously. “You think I’m...passionate?” Pansy laughed awkwardly. “Granger, you are extremely passionate when it comes to things you enjoy, no one can deny that.”

Hermione smiled. “Thank you, Pansy.” Pansy nodded. “Well, I’m gonna turn in for the night so...Enjoy the rest of your evening?” Hermione waved at her. “Good night Pansy.”

Pansy waved back before hurrying up to the dorm. Why couldn’t she control her stupid mouth? Now Hermione was probably creeped out by her. Pansy paused, staring down at her bed. Hermione had looked so sad though…Pansy shook her head, there was nothing she could do about it now, might as well go to sleep and forget about everything that happened.

***-***-***

Pansy grumbled as she kicked the snow and frost that was present on the ground before her. November had barely begun but apparently, that wasn’t too early for the snow to start coloring the whole school white.

Her game against Slytherin was getting closer and closer every minute. Wood had been training them non-stop for the game today. She could tell that Harry was stressed, what with all their homework, and the continuous Quidditch practices, exhaustion was finally getting to the boy.

Luckily, Pansy’s father had been able to send her the latest and newest broom available before the game, she still chuckled when she remembered the look on Ron and Seamus’ face when her owl had dropped a Nimbus 2000 in front of her during breakfast three weeks ago.

Her mother had sent her another letter saying that if she won her first game she would be allowed back home during Christmas and Pansy couldn’t tell if she wanted to go home or not at this point.

She looked down at her watch and nearly cursed when she saw the time. Wood was going to kill her for being late.

***-***-***

“Glad that you decided to join us, Parkinson.” Wood commented as Pansy ran into the room where the rest of the Gryffindor team was waiting for the announcement of the beginning of the match.

Pansy paused, trying to catch her breath before looking up at Wood. “I lost track of time.” Wood raised an eyebrow, accepting her excuse. “Now team, this is the year! Gryffindor is going to win the Quidditch Cup this year! This is the best team we’ve ever had, I expect nothing less than your full effort out there, okay?” He received a number of nods and cheers from the Weasley twins and Angelina Johnson.

Harry trailed behind Pansy as the team made their way onto the pitch. Pansy looked around in the stands, seeing the divide between Gryffindor and Slytherin students and hearing the deafening cheers from the audience.

Pansy turned toward Harry. “Hey, Potter!” Harry nervously looked at Pansy. “Yeah?” Pansy sent him a grin. “Good luck out there.” Harry smiled slightly. “Thanks, you too.” Pansy laughed. “Won’t need it but thanks anyway.”

Madam Hooch stepped forward between the two teams, eying the captain of the Slytherin team, Marcus Flint. “Now I want a nice clean game, all of you, is that understood?” She received nods from both teams.

Both teams lifted off the ground, forming a circle over the center of the pitch. Harry found his position over the rest of the team, facing the Slytherin seeker. Pansy had enough time to wave at Flint, earning a smirk and a half-hearted salute back, before the match started.

The quaffle was thrown into the air and was caught by Angelina before any Slytherin could move towards it. Pansy stayed near the center of the field as Katie Bell raced after Angelina to offer her backup, deciding to stay still and listen to Lee Jordan as he commented on the match.

“And there goes, Angelina Johnson with the Quaffle followed closely by Katie Bell. Truly an amazing chaser, though she does excel in the looks department as well…Too bad she doesn’t swing my way-”

“Jordan!”

Lee Jordan looked up at McGonagall sheepishly. “Sorry Professor. Anyways, Angelina gets close to the goalpost and no Keeper seems to be anywhere around the hoops. She’s gonna sco...No, the Quaffle is now in Slytherin possession. There goes, Adrian Pucey towards the Gryffindor goalpost...Wait. The Quaffle is stopped thanks to a spectacular save by Oliver Wood.”

Pansy dove towards the Quaffle as another Slytherin chaser tried to catch it. She managed to swipe it right out of his hands and immediately headed towards the Slytherin goalpost.

“Oh, what’s this? Graham Montague just had the Quaffle stolen from right under his nose by Pansy Parkinson! There she goes towards the goalpost, Miles Bletchley is attempting a dive towards the Quaffle, he misses-”

Pansy paused, turning back as Flint rushed towards her. She smirks at him before throwing the Quaffle through one of the hoops serving as the Slytherins’ goalpost.

“And Gryffindor scores thanks to Parkinson. Honestly, when I first heard that she was joining the Gryffindor team I had my doubts but she seems to be as good as catching the Quaffle as she is in talking back to people-”

“Jordan!” McGonagall exclaimed.

Lee chuckled nervously. “Sorry Professor, Now Marcus Flint is in possession of the Quaffle, he’s heading towards the goal post. No, he’s stopped by a bludger sent by Fred or George Weasley, I can’t tell them apart from here...Wait is that the snitch?”

Pansy gestures for Harry to get a move on before dodging a bludger headed straight for her face. Luckily, Harry is quick to spot the snitch but he isn’t the only one. The Slytherin seeker matches his speed and they end up neck and neck, chasing the golden snitch.

Suddenly, Flint put himself in Harrys’ path, causing Harry to lose control of his broom, spinning out of control before his broom halted altogether. Screams of rage could be heard from the Gryffindors before Madame Hooch called the foul and offered the Gryffindor team a penalty throw.

Angelina hands Pansy the Quaffle, nodding towards the goalpost. “You want me to do it?” Pansy questioned, Angelina only shrugged. “As your seniors, we need to prepare you to manage the team when we graduate, go for it Parkinson, think of it as a learning experience.” Pansy nodded, gripping her broom as she headed towards the Slytherin goalpost.

“After that foul, a penalty is given to Gryffindor, taken by Parkinson. She scores, and Gryffindor is still in possession of the Quaffle!”

Pansy grumbled when Flint somehow stole the Quaffle from her and began heading towards the goalpost. At least until a bludger hit him square in the nose. Sadly, she didn’t have the opportunity to catch the Quaffle as Adrian swooped in and scored.

Harry suddenly passed over her, his broom jerking him around as if he was a doll. “Potter, what are you doing?” She yelled, trying to approach him without being hit by his broom. “I don’t know, do you think it’s because Flint hit my broom?” Pansy grimaced. “I don’t know Potter, try not to fall off okay? The game is still on and I don’t want Wood on our arse.” Harry nodded, gripping his broom tighter.

Pansy managed to stop Flint from scoring a fourth time since Harrys’ broom started acting up. “You know that you're cheating right?” Flint shrugged. “I saw an opportunity and I took it, you can understand that Parkinson. You might be in Gryffindor but you’re still a Slytherin at heart.” Pansy laughed. “Can’t fault you there. How’s your mother by the way?” Flint raised an eyebrow. “What are you playing at Parkinson?”

“And Angelina Johnson scores again, putting the score at 30 to 40 for Slytherin!”

Flint chuckled. “Yep, still a Slytherin,” Pansy smirked. “Always was and always will be.” They both turned around when the audience began cheering again, seeing Harry rushing towards what Pansy guessed was the snitch.

Flint cursed when Harry caught the snitch and held it up towards the crowd. “The match ends with an astounding score of 180 to 40 for Gryffindor!” Pansy cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindors. Wood looked like he had just been told the best news of his life and was yelling in glee. Flint scoffed. “He swallowed it, isn’t that against the rules?” Pansy shrugged. She offered Flint a pat on the back, quickly flying away when the boy tried to smack her arm away.

Harry smiled widely at her as she halted her broom next to his. “Nice job Potter, did you figure out what was wrong with your broom?” Harry shook his head. “No, but Hermione was waving at me earlier so maybe she knows what happened.” Pansy chuckled. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”

***-***-***

“It was Snape.”

Pansy couldn’t hold back the snort she let out after hearing Rons’ claim. After the match, Hagrid had suggested that they walk with him before going to the Great Hall. Pansy honestly would have rather gone to the Gryffindor Common room to sleep or celebrate their win

“I swear, me and Hermione saw him!” Hagrid shook his head. “Rubbish. Why would Snape do somethin’ like that?” Pansy had to agree with the half-giant. Snape didn’t have a reason to try to kill Harry, it all seemed too superficial.

“He’s trying to get past the three-headed dog. He was bitten on Hallowe’en and we think he’s trying to get whatever the dog is guarding.” Hagrid frowned. “How do yeh know about Fluffy?” Pansy snorted again, earning a glare from Hermione. “You called it Fluffy?” Hagrid nodded. “Yeah, he’s mine. Bought him off a Greek chap I met in the pub last year, I’m lending him to Dumbledore to guard the-”

Harry perked up slightly. “Yes?” Hagrid sighed tiredly. “Don’t ask me anymore, you shouldn’t even know about Fluffy.”

“But Snape is trying to steal whatever it is!” Harry exclaimed. Pansy scoffed. “That’s rubbish and you know it.” Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. “You saw his injury Pansy, and why was he trying to kill Harry if he isn’t trying to get past Fluffy?” Pansy frowned. “What do you mean he’s trying to kill Potter?” Hermione sighed, turning towards Pansy. “Snape was cursing Harrys’ broom, I’ve read about jinxes like that, you need to maintain eye-contact. Snape was looking at Harry and he wasn’t blinking.”

Hagrid shook his head. “I’m tellin’ you, yer wrong, I don’t know why Harry’s broom acted like that but Snape wouldn’t try to kill a student. You three are meddling in issues that don’t concern yeh, this only concerns Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel-”

Pansy winced, feeling a little sorry for the groundskeeper as Harry grinned. “Aha! So there is someone called Nicolas Flamel involved?” Hagrid sighed, shaking his head before looking at the four Gryffindors pointedly. “You can’t tell anyone about this yeh hear?”

Harry and Ron nodded half-heartedly. Pansy shrugged, she didn’t think that Snape would ever do something like that, sure he could be unpleasant but he wouldn’t go against Dumbledore. Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoy writing the Quidditch scenes, dunno why though.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter if you have any suggestions feel free to comment.


	4. Secrets and research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The key to a good friendship is not keeping secrets, right?
> 
> Too bad Pansy didn't get the memo.

Surprisingly, none of them mentioned the information Hagrid let slip out until mid-December.

Hermione walked into the Great Hall, dragging her trunk behind her. She stopped behind Harry, overlooking the chess game between Pansy and Ron. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to leave?” Pansy absently pointed towards the chessboard in front of her. “I’m busy beating Weasley at chess and I changed my mind about going home.”

Ron snorted, watching the chessboard intently as Pansy moved her rook to the left, The rook stood, spinning its lance around and cutting through Ron’s knight, wiping it clean off the board. Hermione grimaced. “That was completely barbaric!” Pansy shrugged. “Welcome to the world of wizard chess. Shouldn’t you be leaving soon? I don’t think you want to miss the Express.” Hermione sighed. “Will you three try to figure out who Nicolas Flamel is while I’m gone?”

Harry nodded enthusiastically. “Of course Hermione.” Pansy and Ron gave her slight nods, too focused on their game to look up. Ron smirked as he moved his queen on the board. “Check.” Pansy raised an eyebrow before sending one of her bishops in front of her king. “Attack Weasley, I dare you.”

Hermione sighed tiredly. “I suppose I’ll be going now, please remember to do more research, okay?” Pansy held Hermiones’ hand, looking up at her. “Have fun this Christmas Granger, I’m sure I’ll get these idiots to do more research for you.” Hermione smiled. “Thank you, Pansy, I appreciate it.”

“Oy, get your head in the game Parkinson, you’re bishop is dead.” Ron gloated. Pansy looked down at the board, smirking. “Check again Weasley.” She moved one of her knights closer to Rons’ king.

“Checkmate.”

“Bloody hell!” Ron groaned in annoyance as Harry patted him on the back.

***-***-***

By the time Christmas rolled around the three Gryffindors had been having way too much fun in the nearly empty school to do any research on Nicolas Flamel.

Harry awoke excitedly on Christmas morning and immediately headed down to the Common room to see the presents piled near the fireplace.

Pansy was laying across one of the armchairs, a miniature broomstick flying around her head while Ron was seated in front of her on the floor, alternating between handing Pansy a jellybean from his box of Every Flavored Beans and eating one himself.

“Happy Christmas Potter,” Pansy mumbled, grimacing before she spat a green jellybean at Ron. Ron dodged the jellybean, waving at Harry before handing Pansy a peach-colored one.

Harry stared at the stack of presents around the tree. “Are those all for me?” Pansy stood up, pointing towards one of the larger stacks of presents. “That’s yours, I’m pretty sure every Weasely got you something.” She sneered. “I, for one, only got presents from prestigious families.”

Ron snorted. “Don’t think you’re free from the Weasley gifts, Fred and George told my mum about you and she knitted you a jumper.” Pansy screeched when said jumper was thrown at her. “You bloody git!” Upon further examination, Pansy raised an eyebrow at the elaborate design of a lion and a snake on the jumper. Both animals were wrapped around the other to form a red ‘P’, contrasting with the green of the jumper. Harry got a jumper as well. His was red and had brooms forming an ‘H’ in the center of his jumper.

“Heads up Parkinson!” Pansy caught the wrapped parcel that had been heading straight for her head. She glared at Fred and George as the twins entered the Common room and approached her. “Open it, Parkinson, you’ll thank us.”

Pansy rolled her eyes before tearing the wrapper off the box. She opened the parcel and distinguished a pair of black, dragon hide gloves with silver outlines. “Wow…” Fred and George high fived as they saw the surprise on Pansys’ face. “You like? We thought you might want some gloves to help you hold on to your broom better, what with your wacky grip.” Pansy scoffed. “You’re one to talk, but thank you. I don’t see how you would ever get the money to afford this, what with your family’s financial situation.”

George snorted while Fred draped himself across the couch dramatically. “Oh Parkinson, I cannot believe that you hold us in such low regards, need I remind you that we are businessmen in the making. We shall soon be kin with you rich folks, caviar, and all” Pansy snickered. “Yeah, yeah, I got something for you two as well.”

Fred began laughing uncontrollably when Pansy handed the twins a book. “Parkinson, why on earth would you give us a book? We’re basically illiterate!” Pansy smirked. “Stuff it, Fred! Read the inside. There are a few spells and potions that I’m sure you can test out on the professors.” George grinned. “I like the way you think Parkinson, we’re gonna go test these out. Ciao!”

Ron frowned. “When did you get so familiar with my brothers?” Pansy shrugged, sitting back down on the couch. “Stuff happens,” Harry spoke up. “They help each other study sometimes.” Ron raised an eyebrow, skeptically. “Fred and George? Studying?” Pansy shrugged. “By studying, he means playing pranks on Filch.”

Harry excitedly ripped through more of his presents, wondering what people had given him. He held up a strange-looking cloak that seemed to shimmer in the light of the fire. Pansy paused. “That isn’t what I think it is right?” Ron shook his head. “Harry, try it one!” As soon as Harry wrapped it around his shoulders they disappeared, only his head could be seen while the rest of his body had simply disappeared.

Pansy smiled in glee. “That’s an invisibility cloak Potter, who would get you one of those?” Harry held up a note, reading what was written on it. “Your father left this in my possession before he passed. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very Merry Christmas to you.” Ron grumbled. “I’d give anything for one.” Pansy snorted, gesturing vaguely towards herself. “Some of the richest pure-blood families don’t even have an invisibility cloak, stop complaining.”

Harry looked at the cloak a second time before smiling. “Wait, we could use this!” The other two stared at him in confusion. Ron frowned. “How?” Harry waved the cloak around. “We can sneak into the library and look for more information on Nicolas Flamel, in the restricted section!”

Pansy’s eyes widened. “Oh yeah, Granger did ask us to do research didn’t she?” Understanding dawned on Rons’ face as the redhead nodded, eager to get that task out of the way before Hermione came back.

“Okay Potter, so tonight you’ll sneak into the library, look through any book about Nicolas Flamel that you can find and we’ll call it a day.” Harry nodded happily. Ron sighed in relief. “Now that that’s done, who wants a chocolate frog?”

Pansy waved. “Pass them over” Ron pondered. “I will, but only if you manage to fit five in your mouth.” Harry gasped. “But that’s dangerous, you could choke.”

“I’m not a coward, I’ll do ten.” Pansy huffed, grabbing a handful of chocolate frogs. Ron clapped while Harry brought a glass of water in case anything bad happened.

***-***-***

Pansy had decided to skip dinner to instead hang out with Daphne near the Black Lake. Sure there was snow everywhere but that didn’t stop them from enjoying their time together. She hoped that Harry could find some information to appease Hermione when she came back.

The two girls had been silently walking laps around the Lake when Pansy bent down to grab a stone. She observed it for a moment before chucking it into the water. Daphne snorted. “What’s up with you? You’re usually amazing at skipping rocks.”

Pansy shrugged, absentmindedly. “I guess I’m just not that good.” Daphne hummed. “Well, I guess your worth isn’t characterized by whether you can skip stones or not.”

“Maybe...” Pansy muttered, staring at the moon.

Daphne looked back at Pansy, a frown present on her face. “What is it, Pans? You look troubled. Have you been sleeping alright?” Pansy shrugged, following after the blonde. “It’s nothing Daph, just thinking too much.” Daphne took her hand, leading her closer to the lake. Well, as close as they could get without angering the giant squid.

“Are you sure? You and your merry band of troublemakers seem to be planning something.” Pansy chuckled, finding a comfortable spot on the ground. “It’s nothing Daph, you shouldn’t worry about me so much.” Daphne sighed. “If I don’t worry about you who will?” Pansy chuckled. “You make a good point, but it’s fine.”

Daphne looked at Pansy with obvious concern in her eyes. “Draco is worried too. He thinks your mother is heckling you again, is that true?” Pansy shrugged. “Just the usual ‘You’ve brought shame onto the Parkinson name by being in Gryffindor’ and ‘Why can’t you just accept that you are a boy? It would make your father and I so happy’. Nothing I can't handle.”

Daphne grit her teeth in anger. “She shouldn’t say that kind of shit to you.” Pansy laughed. “Wow, language Greengrass.” Daphne shook her head, gripping Pansys’ shoulders. “I’m serious Pansy! You shouldn’t be forced to live a lie, you are a girl and no one should be able to tell you otherwise.”

Pansy looked down at the dark water of the Lake, wishing she could simply sink into it. “I mean, I’m allowed to be a girl at school...And my father is okay with me.” Daphne nodded. “And that is the only reason I let you return to that house alone.” Pansy smiled, offering Daphne one of her hands to hold which the Slytherin gladly took.

Daphne leaned her head against Pansy’s shoulder, looking out towards the lake. “Do you think it will ever get better?” Pansy remained silent for a while before she responded. “I hope so Daph.” Daphne closed her eyes as the cold breeze blew past them. “I hope you know that Draco and I are here if you need help, same for Blaise, Millie, and Theo.” Pansy chuckled. “Thanks, that does make me feel better.” Daphne glanced down as she played with Pansys’ fingers. “Do you plan on staying in that house forever?” Pansy chuckled. “I don’t want to, but I may not have a choice.”

Soon the moon was the only source of light that could be seen in the sky. Pansy could finally really take in how big Hogwarts was, the light coming from it seemed to illuminate the ground around it. Daphne nodded towards the school. “Do you want to go back? You need your sleep.” Pansy nodded, rising to her feet. “Can you stay with me?’ Daphne laughed. “Will the other Gryffindors be okay with it?”

Pansy shrugged. “Who cares, you’ve never been mean to any of them if one of them says something about you, tell me and I’ll beat them up for you.” Daphne snorted. “My hero. Look, if there’s no issue with it I would love to sleep with you.” Pansy smirked, mockingly. “Oh la la Greengrass, take me out to dinner first.”

Daphne huffed, shoving Pansy away from her. “Prat!” Pansy wrapped an arm around Daphnes’ shoulders. “You love me, don’t lie.” Daphne rolled her eyes. “Regrettably.” Pansy pouted before dragging Daphne into the school and towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Caput Draconis.”

The Fat Lady turned up her nose when she saw Daphne. “I hope you know that I am not letting her in.” Pansy rolled her eyes, pushing into the common room and ignoring the protests from the portrait.

Daphne looked back. “Should I really be here?” Pansy shrugged. “There’s barely anyone here for Christmas, no big deal.” Daphne looked around the Gryffindor Common room, unknowingly comparing it to the Slytherin Common room.

Pansy led her up to the girls’ dormitories, pointing towards the bed that was near one of the windows. “That’s my bed.” Daphne snorted, observing the amount of green clothing that was present on and around the bed. “Clearly.”

Harry suddenly burst into the dorm room, dragging a tired-looking Ron behind him. “Pansy! Come, I need to show you someth-” He paused when he finally realized that someone else was in the room with Pansy.

Ron frowned. “What’s she doing here? She’s a Slytherin!” Pansy raised an eyebrow at him. “You do know that I have friends that are in Slytherin right?” Ron was about to respond but Harry cut in. “Pansy, I need to show you something, can you come?” Pansy turned towards Daphne apologetically. “Sorry, Daph.” Daphne shrugged. “It’s fine, we can have this sleepover some other time Parkinson. And please talk to Draco, okay?” Pansy grinned and nodded before running after Harry and Ron as the boys exited the dorm.

Harry somehow managed to fit them all under the invisibility cloak before leading them through the hallways of the school. Finally stopping in front of a door, Harry signaled them to be quiet before he pushed the door open.

Pansy looked around the room, it was completely empty except for the large mirror sitting against one of the walls. Harry dragged them in front of the mirror excitedly. “Do you guys see it?!”

Pansy looked into the mirror and froze. She could see herself in the mirror, but instead of Harry and Ron, she saw her mother and father, standing beside her. She was smiling happily in the mirror with long hair that reached down to her back. She actually looked quite feminine in the mirror.

And her parents...

Her mother looked happy. Her father had an arm around her shoulder, beaming proudly at her.

Harry suddenly shoved Ron into her spot in front of the mirror. “Look properly!” Pansy grumbled under her breath, rubbing her shoulder as she glared at Ron.

“Look at me!” Ron exclaimed. Harry looked at him, smiling excitedly. “Can you see all your family standing around you?” Ron scoffed. “No, I’m alone...I look older actually...I think I’m head boy!” Pansy didn’t bother to hide her snort, Weasley? Head boy? God, this was too funny.

“And...I won the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup. I’m the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team!” Ron turned towards Harry excitedly. “Does this mirror show the future?” Harry hummed thoughtfully. “How can it? My parents are dead. What did you see Pansy?”

Pansy shrugged. “It’s private.” Ron groaned. “Come on Parkinson! We told you what we saw, now tell us what you saw?” Pansy seethed. “No, Weasley.” Ron scoffed. “Isn’t that a little unfair? I mean, we’re friends and all, shouldn’t we be able to know what you saw? It wasn’t you murdering a bunch of people right? ‘Cause that would be weird...Unless you killed Snape.”

Harry looked between the two worriedly. “Uh...Ron, I don’t think-” Ron waved at Pansy. “What Harry? We’ve been open to her but she hasn’t said a word about herself, this isn’t a friendship mate.”

Pansy had had enough.

“Okay Weasley, you want to know everything about my messed up life, don’t you? I mean, I cannot even fathom why you’ de want to hear about little ol’ me, according to my mother I’m a disappointment anyways!” Rons’ eyes widened a little in surprise. Pansy only laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, didn’t know that did you? That the Parkinsons’ treat their own the same way they treat everyone else in the bloody Wizarding world, like a pawn. Only, I have it worse you see. ‘Cause I’m not normal, I wasn’t born right Weasley!”

Harry tried to intervene. “Pansy it’s okay, you don’t need to tell us this-” Pansy held her hand up. “No Potter, Weasley wanted to know what I’m like, I’m only doing him a favor.” Harry was about to interject again but Pansy beat him to it.

“So yeah, Weasley, I’m an error according to my mother, wanna know why? How a child could be so messed up that even its parents won’t see it as a normal human? Well according to my mother, I’m a boy, yeah, a boy, a bloody fanny loving boy! And of course, like everything else I do, I only managed to follow half of those requirements!”

Ron was still looking at her with wide eyes, not sure what to respond to that. Pansy chuckled lowly, feeling the beginning of tears start to form in her eyes. “You wanted to know what I saw in the mirror? I saw my parents accepting me for who I am. For the first time in ages, I saw my mother smile at me with pride. And it’s bloody pathetic you know? ‘Cause no matter what I do, what the mirror showed me will never happen. My mother will never see me as anything more than a bloody pawn who can’t do its duty.”

Pansy paused, slowly realizing what she just said. She turned to run but was halted by Harry wrapping his arms around her in a hug. She stood still, tears finally making their way down her face. She returned Harrys’ hug, thankful that he hadn’t hit her.

Harry let go of the hug, looking at her sadly. “It’s okay Pansy, I knew someone who was like you. I was ten and they were fifteen and they were born as a girl but they didn’t feel right as a girl or a boy. They preferred remaining neutral in their gender but they told me that some people may not be born in the right body and that’s okay.” Pansy laughed, wiping her tears away with the back of her shirt sleeve. “You’re an interesting kid Potter.”

“Wait a second!”

They both turned towards Ron, who was slowly approaching them. Pansy prepared herself for the insults that were going to come.

Ron nervously cleared his throat. “...I’m sorry.” Pansy looked up in surprise. “What did you say, Weasley?” Ron seemed to curl into himself a little, his ears turning a bright shade of red. “I said I was sorry Parkinson, I shouldn’t have made you feel like you were forced to tell us anything. And I’m sorry that your parents don’t accept you for something that is beyond your control.”

Pansy smiled, cautiously. “Thanks, you have no idea how much that means to me.” Ron nodded. “And if anyone has anything bad to say about you Harry and I will make sure that they regret it!” Harry nodded, determined. “Yes! We promise!” Pansy chuckled. “Okay guys, thanks but that won’t be necessary.”

“Who else knows?” Harry asked. “Just so that we know who we can talk to about it.” Pansy shrugged. “Uh...Daphne and Draco know, most of the Slytherin probably know. I’m sure the professors know too...Yeah, I think that’s it.”

Ron cut in. “Are you going to tell Hermione?”

Pansy shook her head frantically. “No!” Harry raised an eyebrow. “Why? Do you think she’ll hate you?” She nodded. “Granger is a muggle-born, I don’t think they are that advanced on issues like mine.” Ron hummed in thought. “You’re probably right. We should also probably get back to the Common room, I don’t want to get caught by Filch here.”

Harry wrapped the invisibility cloak around them and they made their way back towards the Gryffindor Common room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me while writing: Don't project on the character, don't project on the character, don't project on the character
> 
> Me re-reading the chapter: now won't you look at that bucket of angst, sorry Pansy


	5. The figure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Pansy assumed that a Gryffindor would sneak into the Forbidden Forest she never would have guessed that she would be said Gryffindor.

After that incident, none of them ever tried to find more information about Nicolas Flamel.

Needless to say, Hermione was not happy when she came back. Even less so when she heard that they had snuck out of the dorms after hours.

They reluctantly skimmed through books at the library during their free time between classes but neither of them could find anything about Nicolas Flamel. On top of that Harry and Pansy had their ever-increasing number of Quidditch practices.

Pansy honestly wished that Wood would lay off, they weren’t going to win their next game if they were all dying from overexertion. Fred and George seemed to be on the same wavelength as her since all they were doing was passing the bludger between the two of them.

“Oy! Can you two please concentrate? This is the exact thing that will cost us the match! Need I remind you two that Snape will be refereeing our next match and he will be looking for any excuse to make us lose.”

Fred nearly fell off his broom in surprise. “Snape’s refereeing?!”

Well, that was an interesting turn of events.

***-***-***

“Say you’re sick!”

“Pretend to break your leg.”

“Actually break your leg!”

“Guys no!” Harry exclaimed as he read through his Defense against the Dark arts homework.

Pansy had told Ron and Hermione about the fact that Snape would be refereeing their next Quidditch match and it was clear that neither of them wanted Harry close to Snape. She shook her head, taking a sip from her pumpkin juice. “There isn’t a reserve seeker if Harry doesn’t play then Gryffindor automatically loses.”

Ron groaned in annoyance, waving his arm around. “But this will give Snape another opportunity to hurt Harry!” Pansy snorted. “I doubt he’ll try anything if you’re right. Besides, I can stick close to Potter during the game, to make sure that no one enchants his broom again.”

Hermione nodded. “That would be for the best. We can’t do much else at this point besides hoping that nothing happens during the game.” Pansy put on her best, wounded expression. “Aw Granger, do you not trust my ability to keep Potter safe?”

“I think you are quite aware that I didn’t mean it like that Pansy, but you are still a first-year and Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher,” Pansy grumbled under her breath, bringing her attention back to the Astrology essay she was supposed to finish this week.

A loud crash suddenly came from the opening in the Gryffindor Common room quickly followed by Neville Longbottom hopping into the Common room.

For once Pansy didn’t need to stifle her chuckle at the situation as the whole room erupted with laughter. Nevilles’ legs were stuck together, no doubt because of a Leg-Locker curse, and it wasn’t long until he lost his footing and fell onto the floor.

Ever the goody two shoes, Hermione performed the counterspell which caused Nevilles’ legs to spring apart, allowing him to slowly stand up. Hermione helped him towards one of the vacant couches as Harry handed him a chocolate frog. “What happened, Neville?”

“Malfoy,” Neville uttered, causing Pansy to snort. Hermione sent Pansy a glare. “Something to add Pansy?” Pansy shook her head. “Sorry, these are just things that Draco does. He doesn’t mean anything by it.” Neville trembled slightly. “B-But he said that I-I’m a Squib.” Pansy shrugged, leaning back against the armrest. “Yeah, he does that. Look, Draco is complicated okay? Whatever he says it’s more because he has to, not because he means it.”

Ron grumbled. “You’re his friend, and he’s a Slytherin, why should we just let him get away with this?” Pansy shrugged. “Not all Slytherin are bad Weasley, you’ve seen Daphne, she wouldn’t hurt a fly.” She received a few nods from most of the Gryffindors that were in the Common room with them. “And I never said that he would get away with this, but for Merlin’s sake Longbottom grow a spine.”

Neville nervously fiddled with his fingers. “I-I understand, I’ll try… But he also said that I wasn’t brave enough to be in Gryffindor.” Pansy grimaced. “I mean...He isn’t really wrong, but between you and me I’m probably the one less deserving to be in Gryffindor so don’t worry about it.”

Ron nodded. “And Malfoy is in stinking Slytherin, so we clearly know who go the better deal here.” Neville nervously glanced at Pansy, whose eyes had glazed over as Ron spoke. “Uh, Ron. I don’t think that’s a very nice thing to say…” Ron shrugged. “They deserve it, after the stuff they make us go through.”

Pansy sneered. “And you think the Gryffindors don’t make life harder for the Slytherin? Do you know how many times Tracy has been hexed by a Gryffindor this week for simply walking in the halls?! Eight bloody times Weasley! And for what?!” She turned back towards Neville. “Look, Longbottom, just stop being a bloody doormat for Draco and he’ll leave you alone. You’re an easy target to him, so change that.”

Pansy stood and exited the Common room, Hermione hot on her tail. “Pansy! Where are you going? We’re not allowed to be out after hours.”

“I don’t bloody care Granger, just leave me alone.” Pansy was surprised when Hermione didn’t follow her out into the hall, instead she stood near the Fat Lady as Pansy walked farther and farther away from her.

Pansy didn’t know where she was going until she stopped in front of the Forbidden Forest.

It was dark and the only light in sight besides the moon was a lantern shining atop Hagrid's hut which caused the trees’ spindly branches to cast strange and abnormal shadows on the ground. Pansy shivered slightly when a cold breeze blew past her, she should have probably grabbed her jumper before running outside in her pajamas.

After debating on whether she should head into the Forbidden Forest, she figured that she probably already used up all her good karma for the year anyways. She was about to turn back when she heard a scraping sound coming from inside the forest.

Slowly, she turned her eyes towards the sound and caught the flicker of a figure between the trees. The figure was moving deeper and deeper into the forest and thanks to her momentary lapse in judgment, Pansy followed it into the forest.

She followed it for about five minutes until it stopped and lifted its head, smelling the air she guessed. Pansy quickly cast a muffliato charm, hoping that it was enough to divert the things attention and cover her loud breathing.

It seemed to work as the figure began walking again, but this time the walk only lasted about a minute. The thing stopped, standing over the corpse of what looked like a horse.

Upon closer inspection, Pansy could confirm that it was actually a unicorn, a very dead unicorn.

Pansy stifled her gasp when she saw the figure slash a knife through the unicorn’s throat and lean down to drink the silver blood flowing out of the unicorn. Pansy’s eyes widened and she tried to back away slowly. Apparently, she really had used up all her good karma because as she was backing away she stepped on a twig, producing a loud snapping sound as the twig broke under her foot.

The thing turned towards her immediately, it’s beady red eyes quickly found her green ones and slowly crept towards her.

Pansy turned and ran, she pushed through the trees, trying to desperately get farther away from the dark figure. She ran and ran until she couldn’t breathe until she couldn’t even feel her legs anymore.

She burst through Hagrids’ hut, panting harshly as she tried to catch her breath. The half-giant looked up from the stew he had been cooking and frowned when he recognized Pansy standing in the doorway of his hut.

The confusion on his face quickly turned to panic when he saw the disheveled state Pansy was in. “Parkinson? What are yeh doin’ out at this hour?” Pansy gestured towards the Forbidden Forest. “I saw something. It was eating a unicorn!”

Hagrid gently guided her towards one of the large plush armchairs near the fire pit. “Sit down for a minute and calm down won’t ya. D’you want some tea?”

“Yes please,” Pansy mumbled as Fang, Hagrid’s dog, approached her and bumped his head against her knee.

Hagrid sat across from her after handing her a huge mug of steaming tea. He waited for her to take a few sips before speaking. “Now, what was it yeh were sayin’ about something eating a unicorn?”

Pansy nodded. “I saw something...or someone under a cloak. And it found a dead unicorn, slit its throat, and drank the blood!” Hagrid paused, staring at the ground in thought. “If yer sure then we need to tell Professor Dumbledore right now.” Pansy took another sip from her coffee, curling into herself more.

Hagrid handed her a blanket which she accepted gratefully. What had she even been thinking? Running into the Forbidden Forest in just a shirt and a pair of shorts? Especially during the Winter!?

“Thank you.”

Hagrid smiled. “It’s nothin’. Yer a good kid, but I do need to ask what yeh were doing out in the Forbidden Forest at this time?” Pansy grimaced. “Wrong place at the wrong time.” Hagrid nodded. “I’ll let this slide this time. But if I catch yeh out at this time again I’ll have to report yeh to Professor McGonagall.”

Pansy nodded, that was fair. She slowly sat up, placing her finished mug of coffee on the table near the fire. “I guess I’ll be going then, I can’t have McGonagall seeing me outside now.” Hagrid folded the blanket he had let her use. “Well if she does catch yeh just tell her you were helping me tend to the pumpkins.” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “In winter?”

Hagrid paused in thought. “How about apples?” Pansy shrugged. “That works, thanks again.” Hagrid smiled. “It was a pleasure, just try to stay out of the Forbidden Forest okay? I don’t think we want ter know what would have happened to yeh if that thing had caught yeh” Pansy shivered. “Yeah, not really.”

Pansy was quick to run back to the Gryffindor Common room, sure she was interrupted by Peeves on the way but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. The Fat Lady stared at her for a good two minutes even after she had said the password. “You know that you really hurt the girl’s feelings, Parkinson?”

Pansy frowned. “Who?” The Fat Lady rolled her eyes, swinging her portrait open to let Pansy in without another word. Pansy silently crept into the Common room, her eyes scanning the room for anyone who was still awake.

Seeing no one, Pansy let out a heavy sigh and threw herself on one of the couches near the extinguished fireplace.

“You’re back.”

Pansy shrieked at hearing the voice right behind her. She jumped off the couch, putting as much distance between her and the voice.

Harry was standing near one of the couches, staring at her curiously. “Are you okay Pansy?” Pansy grimaced. “For Merlin’s sake Potter, don’t sneak up on people like that!” Harry raised an eyebrow. “Where did you go then? Hermione was worried.” Pansy dragged her hand through her hair in annoyance. “I left Potter because Weasley was saying some shit about my friends, need I remind you of that? You were there.”

Harry nodded. “I’m sorry about that, I might not like Malfoy but he is your friend.” Pansy patted Harry on the back. “That’s all I can ask for Potter, he can be a real brat but he’s my brat you know?” Harry chuckled. “I don’t really get it but sure. You should still say something to Hermione when she wakes up though, she was really upset at Ron when you left.” Pansy huffed. “Serves him right.”

“You might be correct.” Harry shrugged before gesturing towards the stairs leading towards the dorms. “We should probably go to sleep since we have that test in Transfiguration tomorrow,” Pansy whined. “First thing in the morning? What kind of hell is this?”

Harry smiled apologetically. “We studied a little while you were gone, sorry.” Pansy hummed, making her way into the girl’s dormitories. “Well, thanks for nothing I guess. And have a good night.”

Harry waved at her. “You too Pansy.”

Pansy slowly pushed the door to the dorm open, checking to see if anyone was awake. Luckily no one seemed to be up so she quickly crawled onto her bed and tried to sleep, not seeing the figure that had been sitting up near her bed.

***-***-***

“Remember, if you see Snape doing anything tell Fred or George to throw a bludger at him.” Hermione gasped in outrage while Pansy nodded as she quietly laughed to herself. “Pansy no!”

Ron grinned. “Pansy yes.”

Pansy sighed. “Well, it is up to you now, Potter. Should I disfigure Snape if given the chance?” Harry grimaced. “Wouldn’t that get you in trouble?” Pansy snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous, the only ones who’d get in trouble would be Fred and George.”

Ron frowned. “Why do you still call me Weasley but you call my brothers by name?” Pansy shrugged. “Maybe I like them more than you.”

Angelina walked up to them, shooting a pointed look towards Pansy and Harry. “Am I late?”

Pansy glanced down at the girl’s messily buttoned shirt and grinned. “No, but you look like you were having fun.” Angelina blushed, bringing her hand up to fix her collar and rebutton her shirt. “Whatever Parkinson. In how long do we need to be on the pitch?” The girl grumbled. Harry shrugged. “Maybe ten minutes?” Angelina grimaced. “We better hurry then. Come on, we don’t want Wood to have an aneurism.”

They waved at Ron and Hermione before following after Angelina. Pansy sidled up against Angelina and raised an eyebrow. “So...Who held you back?” Angelina snorted. “I don’t think that is any of your business Parkinson.”

They entered the changing room and Pansy saw Katie pulling her shirt over her head. Katie heard Angelina make a high pitch noise behind her and turned to offer her a smile before waving at Pansy and Harry.

Pansy smirked at Angelina as the older girl glared at her and made a ‘Be quiet’ motion with her hand.

Harry awkwardly looked at the ground as he headed to one corner of the room to put on his gear. Pansy looked Katie up and down and nudged Angelina. “Good choice.” She whispered and quickly ran before Angelina had the opportunity to hit her.

***-***-***

“I want you all to play a clean game okay?” Wood stated, making sure to look at everyone in the team, especially Fred and George.

When Wood’s lecture was done, Pansy and Fred moved away from the others as Wood began talking strategy with Angelina. Fred spun his broom around as he sighed. “So….You want us to clock Snape if he tries anything right?” Pansy nodded. “Essentially, but I’m pretty sure Wood wants Potter to get the snitch as quickly as he can.”

George ran towards them, a grin on his face. “Mate, Dumbledore came to watch the match!” Fred whooped excitedly. “There’s no way Snape will be able to try anything if Dumbledore is there.” Pansy shrugged. “That’s great but if he does try something, clock him.” Fred saluted. “Of course.”

“Oy! Come here you guys, the other team is already out on the field!” Wood yelled, gesturing for them to get a move on.

Pansy offered Harry a pat on the back before they took off and got into position. Snape fixed each of the Gryffindor team members with a cold glare before launching the Quaffle into the air, starting the game.

Angelina dove towards the Quaffle but was intercepted by a bludger thrown by one of the Hufflepuff beaters. One of the Hufflepuff chasers grabbed the Quaffle and flew towards the hoops that were being guarded by Wood.

Pansy sighed with relief when Wood stopped the throw and passed the Quaffle over to Katie. When Angelina was finally back on her feet, they both followed after Katie, making sure that none of the Hufflepuff players would stop them.

Suddenly a cheer went up in the crowd as the Hufflepuff keeper gazed up in surprise. Pansy followed his line of sighed and grinned when she saw Harry flying above, the snitch gripped in his hand.

Angelina chuckled. “Well, at least Wood will be happy with this outcome.” Pansy snorted. “Yeah, but don’t you have someone that you should be snogging?” Angelina raised an eyebrow at her, nodding towards the stand where Hermione was waving at Pansy. “Don’t you?”

“...Shut up.” Pansy muttered, descending from the air to meet Harry on the ground. Harry smiled up at her, clutching his broom to his chest. “We won!” Pansy chuckled. “Yeah, nice going. I’ve never seen anyone catch the snitch that quickly before.” Harry smiled shyly. “Thank you. You played well too Pansy.” Pansy snorted. “Nah Potter, we didn’t need to do anything. You caught the snitch in like five minutes.”

Harry nodded. “That means we have a chance at winning,” Pansy smirked. “Well, that will definitely make Weasley happy.” Harry hummed in acknowledgment.

They agreed to meet in the Common room to celebrate later with Ron and Hermione. With thoughts of celebrations on Pansy’s mind, she completely forgot to tell the trio about her encounter with the thing in the Forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feel free to comment if you have any suggestions.


	6. The dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pansy reconnects with some old friends and gets in trouble for it. (Kind of)

Pansy collapsed face-first onto one of the couches in the Gryffindor Common room. Seamus and Neville looked up from their homework as she sighed loudly and crossed her arms before laying her head against them.

Seamus raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Pansy mumbled, glancing down at the textbooks scattered around Neville and Seamus. “What are you guys doing?” Neville held up his Potion book. “We’re studying for the test in Potions tomorrow.” Pansy shot up from the couch in surprise and yelled. “There’s a test?!”

Seamus chuckled. “Well, Snape was angry that Gryffindor won the match so he assigned a test last minute.” Pansy grimaced. “Can he even do that?” Seamus shrugged and handed her a workbook. “Wanna study together then? We’re all gonna fail anyway, might as well fail together.”

Pansy shrugged, accepting the book and sitting with the boys as they went over the composition and effect of the potions they had learned throughout the year.

By the time Harry entered the Common room Neville had left to sleep while Pansy and Seamus were trying to enchant folded pieces of paper so that they would fly with the help of Hermione.

Hermione immediately walked over to Harry, questioning where he had been and why he had returned so late. Harry ushered Hermione and Pansy into a corner and called Ron over. He explained that we had seen Snape threatening Quirrell about the spells protecting something called the Philosopher's Stone.

After some explanation, they were all aware of what Nicolas Flamel had to do with the Philosopher's Stone. Apparently, the Stone was able to grant eternal life amongst other things.

“So Quirrell is the only thing keeping Snape from stealing the Stone?” Hermione mused. Pansy cut in. “You guys don’t really think that Snape would do that right? I know he can be a right arse but he wouldn’t go against Dumbledore.” Ron shrugged. “The evidence suggests otherwise.” Pansy scoffed. “You call that evidence? Nothing about the conversation proves that Snape is guilty, and deep down you know it.”

Hermione placed a hand on Pansy’s shoulders. “Pansy, I hear you and we do take your opinion into account, but Snape is still a suspect…” Ron snorted. “It’s obviously him.” Hermione glared at Ron, silencing him before turning back towards Pansy. “As I said, he is a suspect but he could still be innocent okay?”

Pansy nodded, trying to smile in understanding. Harry shuffled his feet a little. “Um… if Snape is trying to get the Stone then that means that as long as Quirrell stands up to him, the Stone is safe?” Ron sighed. “If it is Snape, the Stone will be gone by Thursday.”

***-***-***

Weeks passed and the Philosopher's Stone remained relatively safe. They each would regularly go and check that Fluffy was still present and guarding the Stone. Pansy took this as proof that Snape was innocent but Ron simply claimed that Quirrell was able to hold on for longer than they expected.

Hermione had decided to forget about the issues concerning the Philosopher’s Stone and had instead turned her full attention towards their exams.

Which were more than ten weeks away…

Usually, Pansy didn’t have an issue when others were consumed with their work, she had enough experience with similar people that it didn’t bother her anymore. What she didn’t appreciate was when those people dragged her into their work.

So when Hermione asked her and Ron to color-code their schedule and start studying for exams for the fifth time this week she snapped.

Pansy snapped at Hermione and shoved passed Harry when he tried to intervene. She did what she usually did and ran away from her problems, leaving others to deal with the mess.

She eventually stopped in front of the entrance to the Slytherin Common room, staring at one of the Dungeon walls.

“What are you doing here?”

Pansy turned around, seeing Draco and Theo standing behind her, a smirk on their face. Pansy shrugged. “Trying to escape the Gryffindors.” Draco chuckled. “Amen to that. You can go in if you guess the password.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Is it still Pureblood?” Draco nodded as a passageway appeared in the wall, leading to the Slytherin Common room. “Nice to see that you’ll still come to us if you need help.” Pansy shrugged, leading the two boys down the passageway.

Theo elbowed her when they reached the bottom of the stairs. “Oy!, What was that for?” Pansy snarled. Theo only smiled and nodded towards the lone figure that was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace.

“She’s missed you, go make her happy,” Theo muttered, heading towards his dorm room. Pansy frowned watching him go. Draco sneered. “Go be with your girlfriend Pansy, she’s been so annoying lately,” Pansy glared at him, “Don’t say that about her.” Draco held his hands up in surrender.

“It’s nice to have you back Pans.” He offered her a hug before leaving.

Pansy shrugged before she made her way towards the couch in front of the fire. She stood behind Daphne, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. “Hello, my dear.” Daphne jumped, nearly elbowing Pansy in the face.

Pansy laughed loudly as Daphne turned red and glared at her. “What’s wrong with you?! I could have really hurt you, Pansy!”

The Gryffindor hugged Daphne tightly. “I missed you, Greengrass.” Daphne chuckled, hugging Pansy back. “I did too Parkinson, now, are you going to tell me what happened between you and the Gryffindors?”

Pansy frowned. “What?”

Daphne rolled her eyes, leading Pansy towards the couch which they both sat on. “Pansy, it’s written all over your face. So, are you going to tell me what happened.”

“I dunno, I’m just tired,” Pansy mumbled. Daphne laughed. “I think most people can agree with you on that one.”

Pansy huffed, wringing her fingers together. “I really don’t know Daph, it’s still strange to be surrounded by Gryffindors. And the teachers aren’t helping.”

Daphne giggled. “Well, I can only imagine what it’s like for you. Do you want to spend the night here? We were going to play Truth or Dare since it’s going to be Saturday tomorrow.” Pansy shrugged. “Might as well.”

“Alright! I’ll get the girls, think you can manage to drag Draco here?” Daphne asked teasingly. Pansy smirked. “I’m sure Theo and Blaise would help me.” Daphne chuckled. “Okay, we’ll meet back here in, say five minutes?” Pansy nodded before heading over to the boy’s dormitories.

“If any of you are naked in there I’m warning you, I’m coming in!” Pansy drawled as she pushed open the door to the boy’s dorm.

Blaise stood in front of her, arms crossed. “But Parkinson, we have exactly what you have, no need to be shy.” Pansy snorted “Doesn’t mean I want to see you naked Zabini.” Blaise chuckled. “Fair enough, so, what brings you here?”

Pansy gestured towards the other guys. “Daph wanted me to tell you that we’re playing Truth or Dare and that we should drag Draco down to the Common room if necessary,” Theo spoke up. “I can get behind that!”

“So we’re all in agreement?” Pansy received several nods. “Okay, where is Draco?” Blaise shrugged. “He might already be in the Common room.” Pansy sighed. “Right, Daph wants us to be down in about two minutes so do hurry up.”

And with those parting words, Pansy left the dorms and returned to the Common room. Daphne had managed to bring along Millicent and Tracey and when Pansy began walking up to them, both girls waved at her.

“Hey Pansy, how’s Gryffindor treating you?” Tracey asked, leading Pansy to sit on a couch. Pansy laughed. “They’re not that bad Trace, though I did tell them not to hex you anymore, has that been any good?” Tracey shrugged. “They’ve stopped I suppose, I guess I should thank you for that.”

“Aw, anything for my best bitch.” Tracey rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe your father lets you speak like that.” Pansy grinned. “It adds to the Parkinson charm, besides, my mother is the uptight one.”

Daphne snorted. “Yeah well, someone needs to be there to keep the Parkinson charm in check.” Pansy looked up at her, sporting a smirk. “That’s what you’re here for Greengrass.” Daphne clasped her shirt, feigning a hurt expression. “Oh, woe is me! Are you saying that I am nothing more than some common wench to you Pansy?!”

“Wow, not even a minute and you’re already putting on the sad lover performance.”

Pansy scoffed. “Stuff it, Nott!” Theodore held his hands up in surrender. “My apologies, I was merely commenting on Daphne’s...Quirks?” Daphne offered Theo a nod. “Yeah, that works.” Millicent sat near Pansy, placing her cat between them.

“So, are we going to start playing?” Draco grumbled as he followed after Blaise.

Daphne moved them so that they were all sitting in a circle on the ground. “Who wants to go first?” Draco raised his hand. “I was forced into this game so I go first.” The others shrugged.

Draco smirked, looking over at Pansy. “Parkinson, truth, or dare?” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “Dare.” The group whooped, excited that the Gryffindor didn’t pick truth. “I dare you, to put three ice cubes in your knickers.”

Pansy grimaced, that was not going to be pleasant. Blaise left to get the ice cubes while Draco rejoiced in his choice. Pansy glared at him. “I’m coming for your arse Malfoy.” Draco laughed. “Try not to get cold feet first, darling.”

Blaise handed the ice cubes to Pansy and the girl tried to immediately get the dare over with. Oh, what a mistake that was.

Pansy made a low, pain-filled sound as she curled up. Draco, Tracey, and Blaise laughed at her misfortune as Daphne tried to comfort her. “I swear, I can’t feel my balls anymore,” Pansy mumbled, eyes shut tightly in pain.

Blaise roared in laughter, collapsing on the ground. Theo covered his mouth, glee present in his eyes. “You’re all right arses you know that!?” Pansy screeched, trying to compose herself. Just as Blasie was getting over his bout of laughter Pansy pointed at him accusingly. “Zabini, truth, or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Boo!” Milicent yelled, joined by both Theo and Daphne. Blaise shrugged. “I’d like to keep all of my limbs intact okay.”

Pansy snorted. “Yeah, whatever. What is the grossest thing you’ve ever eaten?” Blaise shrugged. “Probably a cricket.” Daphne grimaced. “Why would you do that?” Blaise grinned. “Just because it tasted good.” Yells of disgust erupted from the group. “Mate, that is nasty!” Blaise shrugged. “Don’t knock it ‘till you’ve tried Bulstrode.” Millicent cringed. “I’ll pass thank you.”

Blaise turned his stare onto Draco. “Now Drac, truth or dare?” Draco pondered. With Blaise, he should probably go with truth but then he would be called a wimp for the rest of the week. Sighing deeply Draco mumbled. “Dare.” Which prompted Blaise to give him his best Cheshire cat grin.

“I dare you, to take a piece of trash and try your best to sell it to us.” Blaise grinned. Draco turned towards Millicent, grabbing the empty wrapper of candy that she had been passing around.

Draco cleared his throat and held out the wrapper. “Now, ladies and gentlemen tell me what you see here.” Blaise snorted as Pansy answered, “It’s trash, what else could it be?”

“No, that is the response I expected from an unimaginative block. No, this, my friends, is the future!” Draco exclaimed, holding the wrapper away from him and making strange sound effects. “You see this is not a mere bit of plastic, this covers and hides your candy and food from bugs and other harmful things. That would mean that this is the ultimate protection. You can wrap anything in this and it would be safe! I’m telling you, ladies and gentlemen, this simple wrapper is the future! Now if you'd like to purchase it, it will cost you two hundred Galleons and seven knuts.”

The rest of them collapsed into laughter as Draco sat back down. “That was great, Draco!” Daphne laughed. Draco smirked. “Thank you, at least someone appreciates my acting skills around her.” Pansy snorted. “Sorry, we can never tell if you’re acting like a git or if you’re just like that.” Tracey nodded along with Pansy as she continued to laugh.

They continued for a few more rounds until Millicent dared Pansy to go outside towards Hagrids’ hut and come back without getting caught. Pansy of course agreed and Draco was sent out with her to make sure that she completed the dare.

Draco glanced around as they walked down towards the hut. Pansy focused her attention on the light coming from the hut, wondering if Hagrid had company at this time.

“Can you hurry up so that we can go back,” Draco muttered. Pansy sneered at him. “Oh, is little Malfoy afraid of the dark?” Draco glared at her. “Stuff it, Parkinson, just hurry up.”

Pansy rolled her eyes at him but quickened her pace towards the hut. She neared one of the windows and peeked inside.

Inside she could see Hagrid, Harry, Hermione, and Ron inside, looking at a pot over a fire. Pansy gestured for Draco to come closer. He sighed before complying. “What?” Pansy shushed him. “Just look.”

Draco peered inside, recognizing the Gryffindor trio. Pansy’s eyes widened as an egg was taken out of the pot and put on a table. “Is that-” Draco nodded, watching the egg begin to crack open. A small red form fell out of the egg and immediately began coughing up flames. Pansy gasped. “That’s a dragon right?” Draco hummed in agreement.

Suddenly Harry turned towards the window and saw both Pansy and Draco watching them. Draco immediately pushed away from the window and began running back towards the school. Pansy grumbled as she watched Draco run, she could already guess who he was going to.

The Gryffindor trio ran out of the hut and stood beside her. “Pansy? What are you doing here with Malfoy?” Harry asked. Pansy shrugged. “I was hanging out in the Slytherin Common room, you know, with my friends.” Ron frowned. “That doesn’t explain why Malfoy was out here with you.”

Pansy rolled her eyes. “I was dared to go outside, he had to make sure that I did it. Why does Hagrid have a drag-” Hermione cut in as Pansy tried to grasp the situation. “What are you doing out at this time? We aren’t allowed outside after curfew.” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you outside too?” Hermione was about to retort but paused.

Ron snickered at Hermione’s expense as the girl remained silent.

“Well, we should probably head back before Draco tells one of the teachers we are out,” Pansy muttered in annoyance, waving her hand towards the castle. Harry looked back towards Hagrid, who was standing at the opening of the hut.

“I’m sorry that I dragged yeh into this.” The half-giant muttered apologetically. Pansy shrugged. “It’s fine, we should really head back though.” Hermione nodded. They waved at Hagrid as they made their way towards the castle.

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “I still don’t get why you were in the Slytherin Common room, how were you going to return to the Gryffindor Common room with Filch patrolling the halls?”

Pansy waved her hands around. “I was just going to sleep there.” Ron grimaced. “Why would you sleep with a bunch of Slytherin?” Pansy glared at him. “Piss off Weasley!”

“Miss Parkinson! Why on earth are you screaming? And what are you four doing out at this time?”

They turned and saw Professor McGonagall walking towards them, an angry look on her face. Pansy remained silent when she recognized Draco walking behind McGonagall, a grin present on his face.

“So, do you four have an explanation?” Ron grimaced slightly but they all remained silent. McGonagall huffed. “Very well, I have no choice but to remove fifty points from all five of you.”

“Fifty?!” Harry exclaimed.

Draco spoke up. “But Professor, why me?” McGonagall shot him a questioning look. “Despite your good intentions Mister Malfoy you were still out of bed after curfew. Now go on back to your dorm, you will be expected in detention. Mr. Filch will tell you when you will be needed.”

Pansy sent Draco a glare before walking back to the Gryffindor Common room with the three others. Hermione was silent as she tried to process the fact that she had actually gotten detention while Harry, Ron, and Pansy muttered to each other how unfair their punishment was.

“Of course Malfoy would be the one to get us busted.” Ron groaned loudly as they pushed through the portrait of the Fat Lady. Hermione immediately left them in the Common room, probably to contemplate where she had gone wrong.

Pansy collapsed onto one of the armchairs, throwing an arm over her eyes. “Great! Now can you two explain how Hagrid got a bloody dragon?” Ron shrugged. “Calm down Parkinson, it’s not that big a deal.” Pansy shot up from the couch, glaring at the redhead. “Not a big deal? Not a big deal!? My parents are not going to like this at all!”

Ron scoffed. “Oh no. Parkinson is going to get a slap on the wrist and she won’t be allowed to go home for break. What a tragedy.” Pansy slammed her fist against the table in front of the couch. “Perhaps you forgot our previous conversation Weasley. My mother is going to quite literally skin me alive for this!”

Harry reached for Pansy’s hand, holding it gently. “Pansy. It’s going to be fine. It was Malfoy’s fault that we got detention anyways.” Pansy hummed, leaning back against the armchair. “I hope you’re right Potter. God knows what they’re going to make us do during detention.”

“They might just make us clean the potion cauldrons or something. They can’t afford to give first-years difficult tasks.” Ron muttered, tiredly. Pansy snorted. “At least it was McGonagall who caught us. Can’t imagine what Snape would make us do if he was in charge of our punishment.”

Harry nervously stood, looking around the empty Common room. “We should probably go to sleep, it is way past curfew.” Pansy laughed. “Sure Potter, we’ll probably need the break before everyone finds out how many points we just lost.” Ron cringed. “They’re going to kill us.” Pansy shrugged. “Yeah well, what else are they going to do? Congratulate us?”

“No offense Parkinson but could you possibly not be yourself right now?” Ron grumbled in annoyance. Pansy held her hands up in surrender. “Whatever Weasley. I’m going to turn in for the night, try not to nag Potter too much without me.”

“What is that supposed to mean!?” Pansy chuckled as she heard Ron screaming after her. It was so easy to get a reaction out of the redhead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions.


	7. Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A normal school would have given them lines to write in detention.
> 
> But Hogwarts is not a normal school.

There was definitely a lot of anger directed towards them. Pansy could practically feel the anger and annoyance rolling off most of the Gryffindors when she passed them in the hall or in the Common room.

Pansy tried to ignore the looks, choosing to hang out with the Slytherins whenever she could. Of course, that only served to start rumors that were claiming that she had lost points on purpose to make Slytherin win and Pansy was honestly starting to wonder why the hat placed her in Gryffindor.

More so than usual at least.

She could tell that Harry was taking it much harder than her and Ron. The boy had already asked if he could resign from the Quidditch team. Pansy, in a way, understood his position. No one on the Quidditch team besides the twins and occasionally Angelina actually talked to her and Harry anymore.

Harry was obviously collapsing under the pressure but with exams getting closer, none of them really had time to focus on their image.

Despite what she had done, a few of the Gryffindors would still study with her in the Common room. It was mainly Neville and Seamus that would sit with her and review potions and spells but sometimes Hermione would join them and give them tips with their Transfiguration work.

A week before the exams started, Harry burst into the Common room, out of breath. Dean had been quizzing Seamus, Ron, and Pansy on Potion ingredients when Harry interrupted.

Dean silently stood and gestured for Seamus to follow him out of the Common room. Pansy waved at them before turning her attention towards Harry. “What is it now Potter? I was in the middle of a very important revision.”

Ron scoffed from his position on the ground. “You could have literally just asked Hermione for her study guide and you would know this year and next year’s content.” Pansy glared at him. “Stuff it, Weasley. Now, what is it, Harry?”

“Quirrell broke,” Harry whispered. Pansy raised an eyebrow while Ron gasped. “He told Snape?!” Harry nodded. “Wait, are you sure it was Snape?” Pansy cut in, not convinced. Harry nodded cautiously. “I’m pretty sure it was Snape. Either way, there’s still Fluffy-”

“So you’re not sure it’s Snape?” Pansy pushed. Ron sighed. “Look, Parkinson. I get that you don’t think Snape did it but right now he is the only suspect we have, so we should still keep an eye on him.”

Silence followed his statement until Pansy grinned. “That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all year Weasley.”

“I agree,” Hermione uttered, descending into the Common room. Pansy laughed. “Done studying for the next five years, Granger?” Hermione huffed. “I was simply going over my astronomy notes.” Ron sniggered as Pansy rolled her eyes in amusement. “Whatever you say.”

Hermione turned back to Harry. “So you’re saying that Snape is going to go for the Stone soon?” Harry nodded. “I would think so, he’s waited this long so he would probably want to get it immediately.”

Pansy hummed. “Yeah well, we all need rest so I suggest we sleep and worry about all this tomorrow.” Ron nodded. “I agree with her. My head hurts anyway.” Pansy sneered. “Probably your brain trying to comprehend its own stupidity.”

Pansy was out of the room before Ron could catch her. “I swear to Merlin! Parkinson one day you will say the wrong thing and someone will knock your block off!” Pansy peeked out of the girl’s dormitories. “It will definitely not be you, Weasley, I can tell you that.”

Harry laughed as the two continued to bicker. Hermione was about to stop them but seeing Harry smile for the first time in days stopped her, maybe they needed this carefreeness before exams, it would definitely help calm their nerves.

***-***-***

They each got a note as they were eating breakfast. All four notes read:

Your detention will take place at ten o’clock tonight. Meet Mr’ Filch in the Entrance Hall.

Prof. M. McGonagall

With all the studying they had been doing, Pansy had honestly forgotten that they still had detention on top of the points they lost.

By the time Pansy had returned to the Gryffindor Common room after dinner, it was already nine o’clock. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all standing near the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“What are you all doing here?” Pansy frowned. Ron shrugged as Hermione tapped her foot impatiently. “Waiting for you. Where have you been?” Pansy held her hands up in surrender. “Calm down Granger, I was hanging out with Draco and Blaise, nothing new.”

Hermione ignored her excuse and began walking towards the Entrance Hall. Pansy turned back towards Ron and whispered. “Did you say something to her?” Ron glared at her. “I did not say anything to her Parkinson, maybe she’s finally seeing why you shouldn’t hang out with Slytherin.”

Pansy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” She grumbled, stalking after Hermione, just wanting the day to end.

When they arrived in front of the Entrance Hall, Filch was already waiting for them, a lantern grasped in his hand as Mrs.Norris trailed around his feet. Draco stood a good distance away from the Squib, glaring at the ground.

“Follow me,” Filch muttered, leading them out of the castle and towards the Forbidden Forest. Filch mused to himself. “I bet you’ll think twice about breaking any school rules now, won’t you? Hard work and pain are the best teachers after all.” Pansy rolled her eyes as Filch leered at them. “It’s such a pity that they let the old punishments die out. They would have hanged you from the ceiling for a few days back then. I’ve still got the chains in my office as a matter of fact. Keeping them nice and oiled in case they’re ever needed again.”

When they arrived near the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid was waiting for them. He waved them over. “Is that you Filch? Hurry up please, I’d like ter get started as early as possible.”

Pansy could practically hear Harry’s sigh of relief when he saw that it was Hagrid who was going to look over their detention. Filch sneered. “I suppose you think this will be some fun activity, but I can assure you, you’ll be lucky to come back in one piece.”

Malfoy scoffed. “Are you saying that we will be going into the Forest? At night? But there are all sorts of things in there. Like werewolves...and centaurs.” Filch shrugged. “You should have thought about that before you got into trouble, eh?”

Hagrid waved at them. “Well, yeh sure took yer time. I’ve been waitin’ for half an hour already. Are you alright?” Filch chuckled darkly. “I wouldn’t be too friendly with them Hagrid, they’re here for their punishment after all.”

“And that’s why yer late isn’t it?” Hagrid answered back. “I’ll take over from here.” Filch sneered. “I’ll be back at dawn to collect what’s left of them.” Filch then turned his back towards them and began walking back towards the castle.

Hagrid sighed. “Don’t listen to old Filch, he’s just tryna scare yeh.” Pansy hummed thoughtfully, looking up at the Forest. Draco laughed in disbelief. “I’m not going in there!” Hagrid gave him a look. “You will if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts.”

Pansy cut in. “He has a point, Hagrid. This isn’t something that students should be doing. Wouldn’t it be better if we wrote lines or something?” Hagrid shook his head. “While I appreciate yer concern Pansy, writin’ lines ain’t gonna do any good for yeh. What you will be doin’ will be useful to the school. If any of yeh have an issue with that, yeh can return to the castle and begin packin’.”

Draco remained silent, Pansy could tell that he was internally seething but any other outbursts may just get him expelled.

Hagrid nodded. “Right then. I want yeh to listen carefully. Is that clear? What we’re gonna do is dangerous an’ I don’t want any of yeh gettin’ hurt.” They all nodded towards him. Hagrid led them towards the edge of the Forest and gestured towards something shiny on the ground.

“You see that shiny stuff? That’s unicorn blood. That means that there’s a unicorn somewhere in the Forest. It will be our job to go in there and find it, we might need to put the poor thing out of its misery.” Hagrid mumbled the last part with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Draco grimaced. “What if the thing that killed it finds us?” Hagrid sighed. “There ain’t nothin’ in there that’ll hurt ye if yer with me or Fang. Now, Parkinson, I want you to be on the lookout for the figure yeh saw a while back, we don’t know what it is and if it is still in the Forest.”

Pansy’s eyes widened as she remembered her encounter with the thing in the Forest. “Uh, not to sound rude or anything Hagrid but, shouldn’t we have more protection if there’s someone inside the Forest that could hurt us?” Hermine cut in, looking at the trees in fear.

“Again, nothin’ in there will hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang,” Hagrid repeated. Pansy chuckled as she crouched down and scratched Fang behind the ear. “Can I get Fang then?” Draco nodded hastily. “Yes, I want Fang!”

Hagrid shrugged. “If yeh want, but I’m warnin’ yeh, he’s a bloody coward.” Draco turned pale and Pansy simply cooed more at Fang as the dog bumped its head against her shoulder.

“Alright, so Pansy and Malfoy will go with Fang and you three will go with me. Now, remember, if yeh find the unicorn send up a green spark with yer wand alright? And if yer in danger, send up a red spark and I’ll head over to yeh okay?” Hagrid received a few nods from them before nodding to himself. “Alright, let’s go then. And be careful.”

Pansy waved at the other Gryffindors as she followed Draco into the Forest, Fang trotting after them. Draco huffed a few times, probably trying to start a conversation. Pansy rolled her eyes. “What is it, Draco? You do know that we are in this mess because of you right?”

Draco glared at her. “Shut up Parkinson, you can’t say that this is completely my fault! You could have refused Bulstrode’s dare.” Pansy snorted, bending down occasionally to retrieve leaves that had fallen onto the ground. “Who do you think I am Malfoy? I’m not going to refuse a dare!”

“Whatever. What is the dog doing?” Draco sneered as Fang sniffed one of the trees that surrounded them. Pansy raised an eyebrow at Draco. “Weren’t you the one who wanted Fang with us?”

Draco huffed, crossing his arms. “Yes well, I would rather not die here because of a dog who doesn’t know how to protect people.” Pansy sniggered, “Oooh, is the great Draco Malfoy afraid of what’s in these woods?” Draco glared at her in annoyance. “Shut up Parkinson! We need to keep our voices down or something might catch us.”

Pansy remained silent for a total of two minutes before she ‘accidentally’ threw the leaves she had been collecting onto Draco.

Draco shrieked and began waving his arms around frantically, trying to get the leaves away from him. Unfortunately Pansy couldn’t stop him before he shot a red spark into the sky, alerting Hagrid and any other thing in the Forest of the position.

Hagrid eventually burst out from between the trees, looking them over. “What happened? Did one of yeh get hurt?” Pansy scoffed, glaring at Draco angrily. “No, Draco got spooked.” Hagrid stared at them for a few moments before sighing. “Come with me you two, I think I’m gonna change the groups.”

Pansy grumbled under her breath as Hagrid led her and Draco through the Forest. Draco shoved her shoulder roughly. “Don’t do that again!” He muttered. Pansy glared at him. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“This is all your fault.” Draco huffed, turning away from Pansy. “My fault? Weren’t you the one who decided to shoot a spark up?” Pansy hissed. Draco stared down at the ground harshly. “You shouldn’t have snuck up on me then.”

“Then you shouldn’t have reacted like that. It wasn’t that big a deal, it was just a joke.” Draco sighed. “Whatever, let’s just say it was both our fault and call it a day.” Pansy shrugged. “Works for me I guess.”

They remained silent until they’re group met up with the Gryffindor trio. Hagrid gruffed out. “We’re changin’ things up. Harry, go with these two idiots, try to keep them in line yeah? We won’t be able to catch anything with the racket they were making.”

Pansy did feel a little bad for the half-giant, he was just doing his job after all. “Sorry I guess.” She mumbled, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground.

Hagrid sighed tiredly. “Just try not to draw attention to yourselves, we are tryin’ not to cause a scene alright?” Both Pansy and Draco nodded mutely as Hagrid nodded to himself before both groups headed off in opposite directions.

They remained silent for a good ten minutes until Harry broke.

“Why did you send up a flare? We thought something caught you.” He asked worriedly. Pansy snorted, gesturing to Draco. “Well, someone got scared and over-reacted.” Draco gasped in offense. “Excuse me?! Who was the one who decided to startle me? In the middle of the Forbidden Forest?!”

Harry glared at Draco. “I’m pretty sure it’s still your fault that you shot the flare without any actual danger in sight, Malfoy.”

“Why you-”

Pansy held a hand in front of Draco. “Stop, and Potter, we already sorted the issue.” Harry looked at her skeptically. “I’m serious Harry, it’s fine.” Both boys looked at each other before Draco shrugged. “I am willing to have a truce, even if it is with a Gryffindor.” Pansy snorted. “Yeah, thanks a lot Draco. Now, don’t we have a unicorn to look for?”

Harry reluctantly let the issue go and began actively searching the Forest with Pansy and Draco.

Suddenly they heard the sound of a crunch. They paused at the edge of a clearing before running to hide behind one of the trees. Pansy led Fang behind the tree with them, trying to keep him silent.

Before them, in the center of the clearing was the dead body of the unicorn they had been looking for. It was laid on its flank and looked almost majestic in the moonlight.

Harry was about to step forward when something slithered out of the shadows. Pansy quickly muffled the gasp that Harry let out and Draco’s scream as the thing leaned down and began drinking the blood that flowed out from a cut on the unicorn’s neck.

Draco quickly ran away, Fang following close behind. As cowardly as the act might have seemed, Pansy didn’t blame Draco for running away, any sane person would have done the same.

Harry crouched down on the ground, gripping his forehead as the thing looked up at them. Pansy froze in fear, simply staring at the darkness beneath the hood of the creature.

It was only when the thing began moving towards them that Pansy pulled out her wand. She gripped it tightly as she slowly backed away from the creature.

“Stay back!”

The thing seemed to laugh at her bravery before it turned its attention towards Harry. The boy was still clutching his forehead and hadn’t bothered to move much from his position on the ground.

Pansy was about to shout a spell when something jumped over her and rushed towards the creature, chasing it away from Harry. The creature, which Pansy could now see was a centaur, turned towards her, a worried expression on its face.

“Are you alright?” It asked after helping Harry up to his feet. Pansy chuckled nervously. “Yes...Thank you.” Harry nodded along with her. “What was that?” He gasped, still rubbing his forehead in pain.

Pansy frowned. “What happened to you? You just collapsed for no reason.” Harry pointed at his scar. “I don’t know, my scar just hurt, it felt like it was burning.” Pansy looked at his scar, shrugging. “It looks fine to me.”

“You are the Potter boy.” The centaur mused to himself then turned his gaze towards Pansy. His eyes widened momentarily before schooling his expression. “You had better get back to Hogwarts. The Forest is not safe for students, especially not you two. Are you two alright with riding on me? It will be quicker than walking.”

Harry and Pansy looked at each other before shrugging. Harry turned back towards the centaur, a grateful smile present on his face. “We will be fine riding on your back.” The centaur nodded, lowering himself to allow the two Gryffindors to mount him. “My name is Firenze, it is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter.”

Pansy rolled her eyes, of course, Harry is the one person that even magical creatures know by name.

“It is nice to meet you as well Mr. Parkinson.”

Firenze eyed Pansy as the girl coughed awkwardly. “Uh, it’s actually Miss Parkinson…” Firenze nodded smoothly. “Very well, forgive me for the mix-up.”

“Uh, it’s fine…”

Suddenly the sound of hooves and galloping could be heard coming from behind them. Two other centaurs burst out of the trees, looking out of breath.

“Firenze!” One of them yelled. “What are you doing here? And why do you have humans on your back? Do you fancy being treated like a common mule?!”

Firenze jerked his head back towards the two Gryffindors. “Do you not realize who these two are Bane? This is Harry Potter and the Parkinson child, they shouldn’t be in the Forest right now.”

Bane growled. “What did you tell Parkinson? I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t meddle in human affairs again! Did you not see what is to come in the movements of the planets?!” The third centaur nervously beat the ground. “Bane, I’m sure Firenze only had our best interest in mind.”

Bane stomped his hooves against the ground in anger. “Our best interest? We have nothing to do with this! It is not our duty to run around, meddling in human business!” Firenze glared at Bane. “Did you not see the unicorn? Do you not understand why it was killed? Perhaps the planets haven’t revealed to you what they told me! Regardless, I set myself against what lurks in the Forest, even if I must stand with humans!”

And with those parting words, Firenze turned away from Bane and Ronan, heading deeper into the Forest.

“Not to be rude, but why was Bane so angry?” Harry asked cautiously after a few minutes. Pansy nodded. “And while we’re at it, do you know what that thing that hurt the unicorn was?”

Firenze slowed to a trot, briefly remaining silent as he pondered. “Do you know what unicorn blood is used for?” Pansy raised an eyebrow in confusion, glancing at Harry, who shrugged. “No?”

“That is because it is almost unheard of, killing a unicorn is a monstrous act. Only someone who has nothing to lose would do such a thing. You see, the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are at death’s doors...But at a terrible price. For since you have slain something so pure and vulnerable for your own gain, you will have to live a half-life...a cursed life.” Firenze muttered, shaking his head sadly.

Harry looked at the trees that surrounded them. “But who would be that desperate? A half-life isn’t even living.” Pansy frowned. “Not if you only need to keep yourself alive for a little while…”

Firenze nodded. “Correct Miss Parkinson, are you two aware of what is hidden in the school right now?” The two Gryffindors nodded. “And you are aware of what it can grant if used properly?”

“The Elixir of Life!”

“Very good, now can you think of anybody who has waited many long years to return to power? Some say that he died, but I do not think he had enough humanity in him to die.” Firenze pushed. Pansy felt a chill run across her body. “So you’re saying that...that shadow thing was...The Dark Lord?”

Harry gasped. “Vol-” Pansy covered his mouth before he could finish saying the name. “Yes, Potter, please don’t say his name here. Merlin knows what would happen.”

“Harry! Pansy! Are you two alright?!”

Hermione and Ron were running down a path towards them, Hagrid following close behind. Harry and Pansy both slid off of Firenze’s back, thanking the centaur.

“We’re fine, the unicorn is in the clearing back there Hagrid. It’s dead though.” Harry mumbled quietly. Hagrid patted Harry on the shoulder, smiling sadly before looking up at Firenze. “Thank you, Firenze.”

The centaur nodded. “It was my pleasure Hagrid.” He then turned his attention towards Harry and Pansy. “This is where our paths separate I’m afraid.” Firenze trained his gaze on Pansy. “I cannot meddle with what has been predicted but I can attempt to warn you. I would be watchful of the company you keep Miss Parkinson, for looks and actions can be deceiving to the naive soul. Good luck now, the planets have been read wrong before, even by centaurs. I sincerely hope that is the case this time as well. Farewell.”

Pansy watched as Firenze turned away from them and galloped deeper into the forest, leaving them standing near the edge of the Forbidden Forest as Hagrid fussed over the carcass of the unicorn.

***-***-***

Unlike Harry, Pansy had the decency to wait until after breakfast the next day to tell their friends about what they had learned in the Forest.

That didn’t stop Ron from panicking more than he should and alerting Hermione as to what was said.

“What do you mean you saw You-know-who in the forest?!” Hermione screeched at Harry and Pansy. Harry glanced at Pansy before shrugging. “We saw Voldemort in the forest, I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Hermione waved her arms around wildly, trying to find a response. Pansy raised an eyebrow at Ron. “You couldn’t have waited before telling her?” Ron shrugged. “She would have found out anyway. So this means that we need to get Dumbledore to move the Stone, right?”

“No.”

Three pairs of completely dumbfounded eyes turned towards Pansy. “What do you mean ‘no’? This is a pressing issue!” Pansy shook her head. “Listen, what is the one thing that the Dark Lord is afraid of?”

“Is he afraid of anything?” Pansy rolled her eyes in annoyance. “He’s afraid of Dumbledore, no one will attack this castle as long as Dumbledore is here. Understand?” Hermione hummed. “You have a point...But we should still warn the professors!”

“Listen, we have exams to prepare for and homework to finish. I say that if there isn’t any immediate danger we forget about it.” Harry affirmed, gesturing towards the stack of books near them.

Hermione sighed. “Fine, but if we hear anything else about Snape or You-know-who we are telling Dumbledore immediately.” She received nods of approval from the other Gryffindors. Seeming satisfied, Hermione headed towards the dorm, leaving Harry, Pansy, and Ron in the common room.

“Did you two really see You-know-who?” Ron asked nervously. Harry shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t him...” Pansy sneered, kicking her feet up onto the table in front of the couch she was sitting on. “It’s funny seeing you try to deny the truth.”

Ron frowned at her. “What is that supposed to mean Parkinson?” Pansy scoffed. “You really think that the Dark Lord was killed off by a mere infant? Who do you think he is?” Ron glared at her. “I knew it! You do support You-know-who!” He yelled, pointing an accusing finger at her.

Pansy sighed heavily. “This might sound strange to you Weasley, but not everyone associated with Slytherin liked the Dark Lord.” Ron scoffed. “Yeah, bet your parents supported You-know-who.”

“My parents may have been in Slytherin but I will have you know that, as far as I know, neither of them supported the Dark Lord. You can choose to not believe me, I really don’t care.” Pansy shrugged. “Either way this has nothing to do with that. If the Dark Lord finds a way to get into the castle Harry is the first person he’ll target. I’m sure he can hold a grudge.”

Harry stood up, turning away from the other two. “I think I’m going to go to sleep now, I’m sorry for causing all this trouble.” Ron nodded understandingly. “It’s fine mate, get some rest.” Pansy cut in. “And none of this is your fault Potter. Don’t beat yourself up over this okay?”

She only received a shrug from the boy before he disappeared upstairs. Pansy glanced at Ron as the redhead took a seat on one of the armchairs in the Common room.

An awkward silence followed as they both tried to figure out what to say to the other.

Ron was the first one to speak. “Look, Pansy I-” Pansy held a hand up, cutting the redhead off. “Just let it go, Weasley, let’s just agree to disagree yeah?” Ron nodded, holding his hand out towards her nervously. “Can we just be friends then?”

Pansy raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were already friends, Weasley?” Ron shook his head. “You’re friends with Harry and Hermione, not me.” Pansy chuckled, offering Ron a handshake. “Well rest assured Ron, I am your friend.”

“Cool.” Pansy snorted at Ron’s response. “Hopefully that calms you, Weasley. Since we have a Transfiguration test tomorrow.” Ron groaned in exaggeration as he remembered the exams that were coming up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions.


	8. The trapdoor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Down the rabbit hole we go.

Pansy was honestly surprised that she even managed to show up to all of her exams. She had been doing regular revision sessions with Seamus and Neville every night to escape Hermione’s study sessions, according to Harry and Ron, Hermione was a slave driver when she was teaching them.

On top of that, she had been experiencing nearly constant headaches for the past two weeks and that wasn’t helping at all, especially with the Quidditch practices Wood was insisting they do.

Most of the Gryffindors were still avoiding her and the three other Gryffindors so Pansy had been spending most of her breaks with the Slytherins despite the extra backlash that she was sure to receive from that.

Daphne and Draco had been trying to cheer her up for days, dragging her into way too many pointless games with the other Slytherins to forget about her trouble. Though they hadn’t told her why Pansy was pretty sure that they were trying to diverge her attention from the angry letter her mother had sent her after learning about the detention she had gotten.

Needless to say, she was not happy at all.

Pansy had spent that night reading and re-reading the letter, urging herself to feel anything other than numbness and indifference. She was still surprised that she managed to ace the Charms test she had the day after getting the letter.

She didn’t let herself get lost in her own misery though. She wasn’t stupid enough to not see that Harry had been in pain since they returned from detention nearly two weeks ago.

The boy refused to talk about it but Pansy had seen him rubbing his scar multiple times during class. Ron had also confessed to occasionally catching the boy sitting on the windowsill in the boy’s dorm staring blankly at the sky ever since they found out that Dumbledore left for an unknown period of time.

This was one of those times. Harry was sitting on one of the couches in the Common room and he was simply staring into the fireplace. Ron glanced at her in confusion and all she could do was shrug.

Suddenly, Harry stood up, looking more worried than usual. He was about to run out of the Common room before Pansy grabbed his arm.

“Hey, Potter! Where are you going like that?” Harry gestured towards the exit. “I need to go see Hagrid right now!” Pansy frowned, turning back to signal for Ron to follow her before turning back towards Harry. “We’ll go with you.”

Harry reluctantly agreed and soon enough, they found themselves in Hagrid’s hut, drinking some tea.

Hagrid just seemed happy to have some company at this time of the year. “So did yeh finish all yer exams?” The three Gryffindors nodded. “Good. Now, I’m sure yeh didn’t come here just for a drink. Do yeh have something to ask me?”

Harry nodded slightly. “Yes actually. Hagrid, you said you won Norbert by playing cards against someone? Did you manage to see who they were?” Hagrid shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t take his cloak off.”

When he saw the dumbfounded and confused look on the Gryffindors face, Hagrid continued. “That isn’t very unusual, yeh got a load of interesting folks who find themselves in the Hog’s Head. He might have been a dragon dealer, who knows?”

Pansy stared Hagrid dead in the eye. “Hagrid, did you talk to him about Hogwarts? Or anything related to the school?” Hagrid nodded hesitantly. “It mighta came up. He asked what I did and I told him that I was the gamekeeper here. Then I mentioned that I always wanted a dragon...An’ he suggested I play a hand with him and he would give me a dragon egg. Although he didn’t know if I could handle a dragon so I told him that after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy.

Harry cut in. “And...Did he seem...Interested in Fluffy?” Hagrid shrugged. “Well yeah, but how many three-headed dogs do yeh see in a lifetime, right? So I told him that dealing with Fluffy is actually a piece of cake, just play a little music an’ he’ll go right to sleep-”

Hagrid stopped abruptly, his eyes widening in realization. “I shouldn’t have told him that...An’ I shouldn’t have told you that either!”

Pansy placed her mug down on the table, instantly standing and waving at Hagrid. “Well, it was nice to chat with you Hagrid but we really must be going so...Bye.”

Harry and Ron followed Pansy out of the hut as they ran back towards the castle.

“So that settles it. Snape is going to try to get in tonight. He already knows how to get past Fluffy! There’s nothing stopping him!” Harry exclaimed. Pansy was about to interject when Ron cut her off. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Snape or not, someone is going to get in and we need to do something.”

Pansy nodded. “I say we tell Granger then we get to the Stone before anyone else.” She received nods from the two boys. “That’s a good idea, I still have my invisibility cloak so we can sneak in,” Harry added as they walked into the Gryffindor Common room.

They spent the rest of the evening telling Hermione what they had learned and waiting for everyone to go to sleep so that they could sneak out.

When the Common room was finally silent and devoid of any person besides them, Harry grabbed his cloak. They were about to leave when their path was blocked by Neville.

“Where are you guys going? Off to get more points docked from Gryffindor I’m guessing?” Neville challenged. Pansy tried to reason with him. “Look, Longbottom, we need to go now. It’s for everyone’s good-”

“No! You told me to stop being a doormat so that is what I’m going to do! And if you don’t listen...I’ll fight you!” Neville pulled his fists up in front of him. Pansy rolled her eyes, stepping forwards and assuming her own fighting stance. “I’ll deal with this.”

Neville hesitated for a moment before finding his resolve again. Pansy wondered how she was going to bring herself to hit someone as harmless as Longbottom when Hermione pushed her out of the way, pointing her want towards Neville. “I’m so sorry Neville, Petrificus Totalus!”

The three Gryffindors behind Hermione watched in surprise as Neville’s arms and legs snapped together and he fell onto the floor.

Hermione cringed more. “I am truly really sorry Neville.” Neville’s eyes were moving wildly, trying to gesture for them not to go out. Pansy shrugged, stepping towards the exit. “Sorry Longbottom, it had to be done.”

“You’ll understand later Neville,” Harry muttered apologetically as he too exited the Common room with Pansy, Ron, and Hermione.

It didn’t take them long to arrive in front of the door to the room that held Fluffy. They only had a minor encounter with Filch but Peeves was quick to send the Squib running after him.

Harry cleared his throat before looking back at the other. “If you guys want to go back I won’t be mad. You can take the cloak.” Ron scoffed. “Are you stupid? We’re coming with you.” Pansy nodded. “What he said, you’re going to need all the help you can get if you end up facing off against Snape.”

Smiling slightly, Harry slowly pushed the door open. The door creaked as it was opened and the Gryffindors were quick to close it behind them, afraid that Filch would hear.

Hermione gestured towards the harp that was playing a gentle melody next to the sleeping form of Fluffy. “Snape must have used that to put it to sleep.” Pansy hummed in agreement. “So, we just need to move his paw away from the trapdoor and go in right?”

Harry nodded as Ron moved towards the giant paw of the three-headed dog. “Pansy, come help me.” Pansy walked over to Ron, each of them grabbed one side of the dog’s paw and gently moved it off the trapdoor.

Hermione grabbed the ring of the trapdoor and pulled it open. All four huddled around the opening, staring down at the darkness below.

“So...Who wants to go first?” Ron mumbled as he looked up at the other three Gryffindors. Pansy lifted her hand. “I’ll go.”

“Are you sure?”

Pansy raised an eyebrow at Harry. “One of us has to go first.” She muttered before lowering herself into the opening of the trapdoor. Pansy looked up at the others. “If I don’t say anything after five minutes, go tell McGonagall okay?”

Harry nodded and Pansy took that as a sign to let go. She felt the familiar sensation of falling into nothingness. Her guts twisted as she fell, feeling the cold and damp air around her.

When she finally landed on solid ground she frowned. The ground seemed soft, too soft to be stone or concrete.

“It’s fine, there’s just a long drop!” She yelled up for the others to hear. ‘It’s a soft landing so don’t worry about being hurt!”

“A soft landing? What did you land on?!” A voice asked, probably Hermione.

“Dunno, it’s a sort of...Plant thing?” Pansy yelled, examining the thing she landed on more. It was a dark green color and seemed to be moving slightly. “It looks safe though, just jump in guys! We don’t have much time!”

Three bodies eventually fell from above and landed near her. Ron grimaced as he looked at the plants. “What the bloody hell is this?” Pansy scoffed. “This is the only thing that was able to break your fall, Weasley.” Harry hummed in thought. “We must be lucky, huh?”

“Lucky? Look at you guys!” Hermione exclaimed, gesturing towards them.

Pansy looked down, only now realizing that the plant’s vines had twisted around her arms and legs, keeping her trapped. Judging by the sounds of struggling, Ron and Harry were probably in the same situation as her.

“What is this?! What do we do now?!” Ron yelled, wildly moving against the vines. “Stop moving! I think this is Devil Snare.” Hermione exclaimed. Pansy scoffed. “Wow, I am so glad I know what it is called! Maybe I can politely ask it to shove off, yeah?” Hermione yelled out. “Stop talking! I’m trying to remember how to kill it!”

Harry was trying to move away from the vine that was close to encircling his neck. “Could you maybe think a little faster? We won’t last long like this.” Hermione glared up at the ceiling. “Devil Snare...What did Professor Sprout say...It likes dark and damp places so…”

“Just light a bloody fire then!” Pansy hissed, feeling more vines wrap around her torso tightly, making it hard for her to breathe.

Hermione nodded. “Yes! But we have no wood…”

“What is wrong with you?! ARE YOU BLOODY WITCH OR NOT!!?” Ron bellowed angrily.

“Oh right…” Hermione muttered in embarrassment. She pulled out her wand, muttering a spell and sending a few flames at the plants.

In seconds the plants began loosening their hold on them until they completely dropped right through the bed of vines.

Pansy grumbled under her breath. She glared up at the vines, rubbed her chest as she tried to relieve the pain she was feeling. Harry smiled at Hermione. “We’re lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione.” Ron scoffed. “Yeah? We’re also lucky that Pansy doesn’t lose her mind in a crisis.”

Hermione glared at Ron but Pansy couldn’t help agreeing with the redhead. “He’s kind of right Granger. ‘There’s no wood’ Honestly what were you thinking? Sure you’re a muggle but-”

“Yes, I’m a muggle, and? If this is more Pureblood narrow-mindedness I really do not want to hear it right now Pansy.” Hermione muttered in annoyance. Pansy shrugged, holding her hands up in surrender. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Granger but only a muggle would think of wood when they need to make a fire.”

“Yes, and I’m sure a Pureblood would be lost if they were ever to survive alone without their wand. We all have our quirks, Pansy, one shouldn’t shame others for theirs.” Hermione stated. Pansy shrugged, there was no point in trying to win an argument against someone who wouldn’t listen to her anyway.

Harry led them through a passageway, advancing slowly in case anything else would try to kill them.

When they reached the end of the passageway they began to hear the sound of rustling and clinking. They all looked up and were astonished to see hundreds of little winged keys were flying above them.

Ron gestured towards the door in front of them. “Do you think they’ll attack us if we try to open it?” Pansy stepped forward, grasping the handle of the door and twisting. When nothing happened Pansy tried to open the door with an Alohomora charm.

“We need a key I reckon,” Harry stated, examining the keyhole on the door. “I would say that the key should be silver so that it matches the handle.” Hermione frowned, looking up at the mass of keys that were lazily circling around the ceiling. “Those keys can’t be there for decoration. I’m sure one of them opens this door.”

Pansy pointed at one of the keys. “That one! The silver one with the bent wings!” Harry nodded. “But how are we going to catch it?” Hermione gestured towards the broom in the corner of the room. “You can use that one.”

Harry walked over to the broom and mounted it. “Good luck.” Ron offered as Harry took off. They watched for a solid five minutes as Harry flew after the key. When he finally grabbed it and landed on the ground, the other keys suddenly began buzzing angrily.

Pansy had no idea how a key could buzz but she wasn’t keen on finding out why it was buzzing. Harry tossed the key at her, she caught it and immediately shoved it into the keyhole on the door. She managed to force the door open just before a flock of over a hundred keys dived towards them.

Ron slammed the door shut behind them as the sound of hundreds of metal keys making contact with the door echoed around them.

They each let out a sigh of relief when the door remained a stable barrier between the keys and them. The room they had entered was large and wide. A giant chessboard filled the room and fallen pawns littered the ground.

“There’s another door there!” Hermione exclaimed, pointing at a door that stood behind the white pieces on the board.

Harry rubbed his neck nervously. “So...How do we get across?” Ron gestured towards the board. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? We need to play our way across.”

“And win,” Pansy added.

Hermione pointed at Ron and Pansy. “Well, we have two great chess players right here.” Pansy guffawed as she registered what the bookworm had said.

“Great chess players? Granger, we are only first years.” Hermione huffed. “Well you’re the best we have right now and with you and Ron thinking together, we have a chance of winning.” Ron shrugged. “What else can we really do Parkinson?”

Pansy sighed. “Fine Weasley, but we talk to each other before making any moves, okay?” Ron grumbled. “Yeah, whatever. There are empty spots on the black side so I’m guessing we need to take those places.”

“Yeah. Potter, go where the Bishop should be. Granger, take the Rooks place and I’ll take the place of the other Bishop.” Pansy commanded. Ron frowned. “What about me?” Pansy sneered. “What spot do you see that’s empty Weasley?”

“The knight?” Pansy nodded. “So that’s that, go to your spots and we’ll start.”

They each made their way towards their designated position on the board and waited. Hermione nervously shuffled her feet as the chess pieces remained stationary. “What are we waiting for?” Ron gestured towards the white side. “Well, white always plays first in chess.” The white queen tilted her head slightly before one of the white pawns moved forward two spaces.

Pansy and Ron began working together as they directed the black pieces on the board. Pansy nodded towards Harry. “Potter, move diagonally four spaces to the right.”

Harry cautiously moved to his designated position and waited. Their first real shock came when one of the white knights faced off against one of their pawns. Hermione gasped as the knight ran its blade through the pawn, cutting it in half and scattering marble on the chessboard.

Pansy stared at the remains of their pawn wide-eyed. She glanced at Ron. “Was that really necessary?” Ron nodded. “Sacrifices need to be made for the greater good Pansy, especially in chess.” Pansy hummed in acknowledgment.

As time passed, more and more of their pieces were destroyed and even began to form a pile of marble near the chessboard. Pansy tried to avoid making any of her friends move, afraid of what would happen if they were hit.

Pansy furrowed her brow as she thought about their next move. They had managed to take out a lot of white pieces but the King and Queen were still well protected. She glanced at Ron. “Do you have any ideas, Ron? We should be able to finish this soon but…”

“I need to be taken,” Ron mumbled.

Harry and Hermione both began to protest. “You can’t do that Ron!”

Ron turned towards them. “This is the only way! Do you want to get Snape or not?! We have to be able to make sacrifices okay?!”

Pansy nodded. “This has to be done, guys. Snape might already have the Stone, we don’t have time to look for another option.” Harry reluctantly let it go. Ron nodded to himself. “Okay, when I get taken don’t wait around. Go to the next challenge.”

“Thank you, Ron.”

Ron moved his horse forward and the white Queen immediately leaped towards him and ran her sword through his horse. Luckily Ron wasn’t hit but he did fall onto the marble board hard.

Pansy gulped before giving her last command. “Harry, move three spaces to the left and checkmate the King.” Harry did so, his limbs shaking. The white King dropped its crown, chucking it at Harry’s feet.

They had won.

They all rushed towards Ron’s limp form, checking if he was okay. “He’s alive, just a little bruised,” Pansy mumbled. She stood and walked towards the door at the back of the room that was now open.

She gestured for Harry and Hermione to follow her and they all entered the next room. As soon as they were all inside, both ends of the room were enveloped in dark flames.

“Great, now what?” Pansy groaned in annoyance. Hermione pondered. “The Devil Snare was probably Sprout’s trap, Flitwick enchanted the keys, The chessboard was McGonagall...This must be either Snape’s or Quirrell’s.”

Harry covered his nose after he cautiously smelt the air. “This must be Snape’s, it smells like the Polyjuice potion he made.” Pansy snorted, gesturing towards the table in the center of the room with potion bottles. “Well, shall we then?”

Harry grabbed the piece of parchment that was present on the table. Hermione began reading its content:

_ Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, _

_ Three of us will help you, whichever you would find, _

_ Two amongst us eight will let you move ahead. _

_ Another will transport the drinker back instead, _

_ Two amongst our numbers hold only nettle wine, _

_ Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line, _

_ Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore, _

_ To help you with your choice, we give you these clues four: _

_ First, however, slyly the poison tries to hide _

_ You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side; _

_ Second, different are those who stand at either end, _

_ But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend; _

_ Third, as you see clearly, all are a different size, _

_ Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; _

_ Fourth, the second left and the second on the right _

_ Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight. _

Pansy and Harry stared at the potions blankly. “Uh, so does anyone have the answer?” Pansy asked hesitantly. Hermione sighed, a smile making its way onto her face. “Brilliant! This is logic. A puzzle.”

“So...Can you solve it then?” Harry asked cautiously. Hermione rolled her eyes. “Of course I know how to solve it. All the information is here. There are eight bottles, three are poison, two are wine, one will let us go back and two will let us go forwards.”

Pansy sneered. “That’s great but how do we know which to drink?” Hermione held a hand up towards Pansy. “I’m thinking, just give me a minute.”

Harry and Pansy watched as Hermione reread the note, running her hand over the row of bottles. Hermione eventually pulled out two bottles from the row and held them out towards Harry. “These two will take the drinker through the black flames, towards the Stone.”

Pansy hummed in thought. “Which one will take us back?” Hermione pointed at the green vial that sat at the end of the row. “This one but there is only enough for one person.” Pansy shrugged. “Which one is the wine?”

Hermione gasped in indignation. “Pansy Parkinson! You are not going to drink wine! We’re still underage.” Pansy rolled her eyes. “Worth a try. What should we do Potter?” Harry ran a hand through his hair as he observed the three bottles. “Um, Hermione, you should drink the green one. Someone needs to go back to check on Ron.” Hermione raised an eyebrow. “And I suppose that means that you two will go face Snape alone?”

Pansy nodded. “Yeah, that’s about right.” Harry cut in, trying to appease Hermione. “Look ‘Mione, Pansy and I can deal with Snape. I need you to go check that Ron is okay and get Professor McGonagall, we should be able to hold Snape off until she arrives.” Hermione sighed. Grabbing hold of the green bottle. “Good luck, both of you.”

“Thank you, Granger,” Pansy muttered, downing her potion in one go. “Is it poison?” Harry asked. Pansy grimaced slightly. “No, but it tastes like ice-” Hermione gestured towards both sides of the room. “We should hurry up before it wears off.”

Harry and Pansy watched as Hermione walked back through the purple flames, towards Ron. Pansy turned back towards the dark flames and gestured towards them. “After you Potter.” Harry cautiously walked through the flames.

Pansy waited for the boy’s form to have completely passed through before taking a step towards the flames.

She didn’t feel any burning as she walked through the flames.

All she felt was cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions!
> 
> Also, should I put some drarry in the story?


	9. The man with two faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pansy was right, Snape wasn't the culprit.
> 
> People should listen to her more often.

She entered a room that definitely looked like it had seen better days. The pillars around the room were half-destroyed, though there was no rubble on the ground and the cracks in the ground had definitely tripped many unfortunate people.

In the middle of the room was a mirror, the mirror that she, Harry and Ron had seen. Harry stood next to her, silently staring at the figure standing in front of the mirror. A figure who was most definitely NOT Snape.

“Hah! I was right!”

“You?!”

Quirrell turned towards both of them, looking annoyed as he realized who they were. “Yes, me. I wondered whether I’d meet you here Potter.” Harry stuttered as he tried to register what was happening. “But I thought...I thought Snape was the one who-”

“Severus?” Quirrell said mockingly. “Yes, he does seem like the type doesn’t he? I was lucky that he was there, appearing everywhere like some overgrown bat. Of course, next to him who would suspect poor st-stuttering Pr-Professor Quirrell?”

Pansy snorted. “That doesn’t really matter now does it, Professor. You’re caught.” Quirrell turned his gaze towards Pansy, a sneer making its way onto his face. “Ah yes, little Parkinson. I didn’t think you’ de have the gall to appear here. What will your mother think? Breaking rules? Getting detention? Attacking a P-Professor?”

Quirrell chuckled indignantly. “Regardless, I don’t have time for you two. Incarcarous!” He pulled out his wand and shot a spell at the two Gryffindors. Pansy grumbled as she was again trapped in rope, unable to move. “Do hold still while I try to find something.”

“The Philosophers Stone?” Pansy gritted out. Quirrell hummed. “You truly are too nosy for your own good Parkinson.” Harry cut in. “But wasn’t Snape trying to kill me?” Quirrell laughed in disbelief. “That does seem like a logical thing doesn’t it? No boy, I tried to kill you. During the Quidditch match, your curly-haired friend knocked me over when she set Snape’s robe on fire. If that hadn’t happened you would have been off your broom in no time. It would have been easier if Snape hadn’t been muttering a counter curse.”

Pansy couldn’t help the laugh that escaped as she turned towards Harry. “Is that not what I was saying to you lot? Let the record show that I was right when you all were wrong.” Harry grumbled at her. “This is not the time Pansy. Why would Snape save me?

Quirrell huffed. “Of course he would save you. Why do you think he wanted to referee Gryffindors match against Hufflepuff? He was making sure that I didn’t do it again, not that I would have with Dumbledore in the stands.” Pansy frowned. “So am I right in guessing you let the troll in?”

“Of course, I have a special gift with trolls. Snape already suspected me though so he went straight for the third-floor corridor while everyone else worried about the troll. It was an unfortunate night, the troll didn’t finish you off and the three-headed dog couldn’t even bite Snape’s leg off properly.” Quirrell shook his head, disappointed. He then turned away from the two, focusing on the mirror. “Now hold still, both of you. I need to examine this mirror.”

Pansy tried to wiggle out of the ropes but they were too tight. Harry, meanwhile, was keeping Quirrell’s attention from the mirror, asking questions about Snape. She could see that Harry was trying to distract Quirrell but the Professor didn’t seem to keep his attention away from the mirror.

“But I heard you sobbing a few days ago. I thought Snape was threatening you.” Harry asked, and this time fear was present on Quirrell’s face. “Sometimes...I find it difficult to follow my master’s orders, he is a great wizard after all and I am nothing-”

“Was he in the classroom with you?” Harry pressed, determined to get an answer.

“He is with me wherever I go,” Quirrell muttered. “I met him when I traveled around the world. I was a foolish man then, full of ridiculous ideas about the barrier between good and evil. Lord Voldemort taught me that good and evil aren’t real, there is only power...And those too weak to seek it.” Quirrell glanced at Pansy. “These sayings must not be unfamiliar to you Parkinson, I’m sure your family has taught you well.”

Pansy grit her teeth in anger. What did he know about her life anyway? “I don’t think my family’s teachings have anything to do with what is happening now. So do get to the point.” Quirrell glared at her. “Your time will come, as will Potter’s but for now-” he turned back towards the mirror and began running his hand over it. “I don’t understand. Is the Stone in the mirror?”

Harry was trying to move his body in front of the mirror, for what reason Pansy didn’t know, but the boy was failing miserably.

“What does the mirror do? How does it work? Master help me, please!” Quirrell exclaimed desperately. Pansy nearly screamed when she heard a voice answer him.

_ “The boys...Use them...” _

Quirrell rounded on them, conjuring the ropes away as he grabbed the Gryffindors by their shirt collar. He pushed them both in front of the mirror and hissed. “Look in the mirror and tell me what you see.”

Pansy stared at her reflection cautiously, expecting to see her family again. Instead, she simply saw herself and Harry standing together. They both looked pale and worn out, but their reflection smiled at them. Harry’s reflection winked at them and pulled the Philosophers Stone out of its pocket before putting it back. Pansy chanced a look at Harry’s pocket and recognized the lump of something in his pocket that definitely was not there before.

“Well? What do you see?” Quirrell asked impatiently. Pansy gulped. “Uh...I see myself in Slytherin-”

_ “He lies… _ ”

Quirrell growled before smacking Pansy across the face. “You will regret lying Parkinson, now Potter, what do you see?”

Pansy rubbed her cheek, trying to soothe the pain. Quirrell had shifted his attention towards Harry which allowed Pansy to move away from the Professor. Harry sent her a frightened look before looking up at Quirrell. “I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore...I’ve won the House cup for Gryffindor-”

_ “They both lie…” _

“Both of you, come back here.” Quirrell bellowed as the two Gryffindors tried to back away.

_ “Let me speak to them...Face to face…” _

Quirrell fidgeted. “But Master, you are not strong enough-”

_ “I have strength enough for this…” _

Pansy looked around them frantically, trying to find the source of the voice. Harry grabbed her arm, silently staring at Quirrell as the man turned away from them and began unwrapping the turban around his head. Pansy gasped as the turban fell away, revealing what it had been hiding. She could hear Harry’s panicked breath in her ear as they stared at the face that was somehow present on the back of Quirrell’s head.

_ “Harry Potter...And Paul Parkinson…” _

The thing whispered, training its red eyes at them.

_ “See what I’ve become? _ ” The face groaned, glaring at Harry.  _ “Mere shadow and vapor...I have a form only when I can share another’s body...But there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…” _

Pansy forced herself to speak. “So...The person drinking unicorn blood...That was you?” The face sneered.  _ “Yes, it has strengthened me these past few weeks. You saw dear faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the Forest. But that does not matter. When I have the Elixir of Life I will be able to create a body of my own...Now...Why don’t you give me that Stone in your pocket Potter?” _

Pansy pushed Harry behind her, backing away from Quirrell. The face chuckled.  _ “Don’t be a fool.”  _ The face glared at Harry.  _ “Better save your own life...or you’ll meet the same end as your parents Potter...They died begging for mercy…” _

“Liar!!” Harry exclaimed. He grabbed Pansy’s shoulder and tried to push her away. Pansy gripped his arm and glared at him. “Stop it, Harry, between the two of us you’re the one who needs to make it out alive.” Harry shook his head. “No! You’re my friend Pansy, and you’re important too.”

A sardonic laugh could be heard from in front of them.  _ “How touching. I always value bravery and your parents were brave. Your father fought valiantly and your mother died to protect you.”  _ This time the voice turned its attention towards Pansy.  _ “Tell me, Paul, why do you protect this boy? Do you really think that doing this will make those Gryffindors look at you as their equal?” Pansy paused, mulling over Voldemort’s words. “Come now, Paul. Deliver the Stone to me, join me and your parents will finally respect you. They will not see you as a failure anymore Paul, you will be a-” _

“Stop calling me Paul you pasty git!” Pansy yelled. “You will never get the Stone and you will crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of!”

_ “Seize him!!” _ Voldemort screamed. Quirrell turned and began walking towards them. Pansy tried to push the man away but Quirrell simply threw her onto the floor as he grabbed Harry’s arm. Pansy’s groan of pain was overshadowed by Harry and Quirrell’s loud shrieks.

_ “Seize him! SEIZE HIM!” _ Voldemort continued to yell when Quirrell backed away from Harry, staring at his blistering hands. Quirrell went in for another attack, grabbing Harry by the neck and pushing him against the floor. Pansy pushed herself off the floor and slammed into Quirrell’s side, sending him toppling off of Harry.

“Master...My hands...What is happening?” Quirrell whimpered, staring at his hands as his fingers seemed to turn to ash.  _ “Kill him you fool and be done with this!” _ Voldemort screeched. Quirrell was about to raise his wand when Harry jumped towards him, grabbing his face.

Pansy could barely hear anything over the sound of Voldemort repeatedly yelling:  _ ”Kill him!” _ To Quirrell. Harry’s touch seemed to slowly be turning Quirrell’s skin to ash and burning him. She managed to pull Harry off of Quirrell when the man’s face wasn’t even recognizable anymore.

The boy collapsed onto her, unconscious, and Pansy stared tiredly as a mist seemed to leave Quirrell’s as the man stood again and limped towards her. The mist suddenly formed into a face, the familiar face of Voldemort.

He screamed before rushing towards her at full speed. The mist flew through her, leaving her feeling as if a cold knife had gone through her stomach before she sunk into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you have any suggestions!


	10. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaks are given when they are due and Merlin does Pansy need one.

Something was shining behind her eyelids as Pansy slowly awoke. She cautiously opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings.

The first thing she realized was that she was in a bed, in the Hospital Wing. The only beds that seemed to be occupied were hers and one next to her.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was Harry who was laying on the bed and that the person sitting on a chair between them was Dumbledore.

“Good afternoon Pansy,” Dumbledore said, smiling down at her. Pansy stared at him in confusion until her mind finally caught up with her. “Where’s Quirrell? And the Stone?” Dumbledore patted her arm soothingly. “Calm down Pansy, you have been out for a few days now and Quirrell does not have the Stone.”

Pansy panicked. “He doesn’t? Did the Dark Lord get it?” Dumbledore frowned slightly but before he could respond Harry sat up in his bed.

“What happened? Where is Quirrell?” He exclaimed, looking around frantically. As Dumbledore explained the situation to Harry, Pansy tried to focus and remember what had happened when they had fought Quirrell.

The events that led to Quirrell’s demise were pretty clear but Pansy could not remember what happened to Voldemort. She did not miss the pain that she felt in her chest when she thought of the Dark Lord but she couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out why she was feeling pain.

“Who has the Stone Professor?” Pansy asked, gaining Dumbledore’s attention. “Please relax, both of you or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out.” Pansy narrowed her eyes. “How long have we been here Professor?” Harry asked.

“Three days. Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley have been coming round to check on you these past few days, they were extremely worried-” Pansy cut in. “And the Stone?”

Dumbledore chuckled. “I see you are not easily distracted, Miss Parkinson. Rest assured, the Stone never fell into Quirrell’s hands. I arrived in time to keep Quirrell away from you two.” Harry grinned. “So Hermione was able to get help?” Dumbledore nodded. “Yes, I feared I was too late…”

Pansy nodded. “Yeah, Quirrell was standing up as soon as Harry backed away from him. He was about to get the Stone” Dumbledore shook his head. “I am not talking about the Stone. You both spent a great deal of effort fending off Quirrell and Voldemort, it nearly killed you. As for the Stone, as far as I know, it has been destroyed.”

“Destroyed?!” Harry exclaimed. “But, what about Nicolas Flamel?” Dumbledore hummed. “So you do know about Nicolas? You two truly did your research. Well, we chatted and agreed that it was for the best.”

“But, won’t he and his wife die?” Pansy asked in confusion. Dumbledore nodded sagely. “They have enough Elixir to set their affairs in order then yes, they will die.” Harry remained silent, processing what Dumbledore had just told them.

“Now now, I’m sure that to you two it seems like a truly horrible ordeal but at my age, death is nothing to be afraid of. After all, to the sage mind, death is simply another grand adventure.” Dumbledore said with a peaceful smile.

“So...With the Stone gone, will Vol- I mean, You-know-who-” Harry began. “Use his name Harry, fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself,” Dumbledore stated. Pansy frowned. “Just to be clear, the Dark Lord is not gone, he will still find a way to return right?” Dumbledore nodded. “It is possible, but there is still a chance that he will not return. Finding a way to create a body is much harder than it sounds.”

“Professor?” Harry asked cautiously. “Yes, Harry?” Dumbledore said, seeming open and ready to answer any of their questions. “Um, Voldemort said that my mother died to protect me, but why did he want to kill me in the first place?” Dumbledore pondered. “I am sorry Harry, but I cannot tell you now. Please forgive me but you are not old enough to know, you will know when the time comes.”

Pansy took this time to observe all of the treats that were placed on the table near her bed. It seemed that she had more friends than she thought she had. A stack of Chocolate frogs was on the table with a note from Fred and George, asking to do more Chocolate frog-eating competitions when she felt better. A box of Every-flavored beans was also present and Pansy could guess that it was from Ron. The other stacks of sweets were most likely from Draco, Daphne, Millicent, and Blaise. She was also amused to see that there was a stack of papers with notes on them, no doubt class notes from Hermione, the girl had thankfully also left a container of fudge on the notes for Pansy.

Dumbledore eventually left, wishing them well. Harry groaned, flopping down onto his bed. “Are you okay Potter? Quirrell really tired you out.” Harry nodded. “I wish I had done more-” Pansy cut in, forcefully. “There wasn’t anything you could have done Harry, we were against a fully-fledged wizard and the Dark Lord, what were we supposed to do?”

Harry shrugged before turning towards the door to the Hospital wing, seeing Ron and Hermione poke their heads into the room.

“Guys!” Harry exclaimed as they approached them. Hermione immediately hugged Harry tightly. “We were so worried about you two.” Hermione sobbed before hugging Pansy as well. Pansy offered an awkward shrug as she stiffly hugged Hermione back. “Uh...Well as you can see, we’re fine.” Ron snorted. “Don’t play tough Parkinson, you two must be tired.”

Pansy rolled her eyes, patting Hermione’s back as the girl pulled away from her. “So, what did we miss? Ron laughed excitedly. “The whole school is talking about you two. What really happened down there?”

Pansy let Harry recount what happened, not wanting to deal with the additional questions that they would no doubt have.

“So the Stone is gone? And Flamel is just going to die?” Ron asked incredulously. Pansy shrugged. “I guess, Dumbledore gave some speech about how death was just another adventure to the trained mind.” Ron chuckled. “I knew that man was bonkers.”

“So, what happened to you two?” Pansy asked. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other before Hermione spoke. “Well, we were on our way to the Headmasters office when we ran into Dumbledore and he asked ‘Harry went after him didn’t he?’ And sprinted towards the third floor.” Pansy frowned. “Do you think he wanted us to go down there?” Harry squinted in thought. “That means that he gave me the cloak”

Hermione huffed in disdain. “Well, if he did mean for you two to go down there that is terrible, you could have been killed!” Pansy shrugged. “He’s a funny man, no one knows what he’s really thinking.” Ron sighed. “Well, you two should be up for the end of the year feast, Slytherin won the House cup obviously since we were down two players in Quidditch Ravenclaw completely decimated us but the food is decent.”

Madam Pomfrey suddenly appeared near them. “You have been here for nearly fifteen minutes, that is quite enough now. Out!

***-***-***

Pansy and Harry decided to take their recovery seriously for the next two days, much to Madam Pomfrey’s delight. That was probably also the only reason she let them attend the end of the year feast despite their supposed injuries.

Madame Pomfrey had still held them back until the last minute, fussing over them and claiming that they should still be on bed rest.

Harry smiled up at Pansy as they walked to the Great Hall. “So, how do you feel?” Pansy scoffed. “I should be asking you that Potter. You’re the one who single-handedly took on a dark wizard.” Harry blushed. “It wasn’t that hard, Quirrell wasn’t able to touch me and I could literally burn his skin.”

They both paused as they stopped in front of the Great Hall. “You ready?” Harry asked nervously. Pansy shrugged. “I don’t think we have the luxury of being ready, let’s go.”

When they both walked in there was a sudden hush that fell around the room before people started talking loudly. Harry seemed to be hiding behind Pansy as they both found seats near Ron and Hermione on the Gryffindor table which they took.

Luckily Dumbledore stood and started his end of the year speech before either of them were bombarded with questions from the other students.

“Another year has gone!” Dumbledore announced, smiling at the students around the room. “And I must trouble you with an old man’s reminiscence before you are able to sink your teeth into this delicious feast. I will say that it has been quite a year and I’m sure that your heads are all a little fuller than when you first came here. Rest assured, you will have all of the summer to make them empty again before next year.”

Dumbledore continued. “Now, as I understand, the House Cup needs to be awarded and the points are rather self-explanatory. In fourth place, we have Gryffindor with two hundred and sixty-two points, in third Hufflepuff with three hundred and fifty-two, Ravenclaw in second place with four hundred and twenty-six and the winner, Slytherin with four hundred and seventy-two points.”

The cheering that came from the Slytherin table was deafening and filled the entire Great Hall. Pansy, unlike her housemates, clapped for the Slytherin, despite the obvious house rivalry she was still happy for them.

“Yes, yes, well done Slytherin. However-” The cheering was silenced as Dumbledore uttered these words. The headmaster nodded towards the Slytherin table before continuing. “Recent events must be taken into account.”

Pansy could practically feel the fear coming from the Slytherin table, and honestly, she would have been scared too if she were in Slytherin. Dumbledore cleared his throat. “Firstly, to Ronald Weasley for the best-played chess game Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor fifty points.”

Ron turned a deep shade of red as he received congratulations from the Gryffindors. Pansy grinned and offered Ron a pat on the back.

“Second, to Hermione Granger, for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor fifty points.” Dumbledore continued. More cheering erupted from the Gryffindor table, Pansy chuckled slightly when she saw Hermione hid her face in her hands, no doubt she was probably too proud and embarrassed to look anyone in the eye.

“Third, to Pansy Parkinson-” Pansy froze, turning her gaze towards Dumbledore. The man smiled at her gently. “For remaining calm in the eye of the storm and for selflessly putting her life on the line for others, I award Gryffindor fifty points.”

Pansy could feel a smile slowly making its way onto her face as she processed the news. Fred and George both whooped loudly as more cheers were heard from the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore waited for everyone to quiet down before speaking. “Fourth, to Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage despite fear, I award Gryffindor sixty points.”

The cheering was nearly deafening. Gryffindor was now up to four hundred and seventy-two points, equal with Slytherin. Ron laughed. “If only Dumbledore had given Harry one more point.” Pansy nodded, this was definitely a weird turn of events but she had quite literally risked her life for those points so she wasn’t complaining.

Dumbledore held a hand up, silencing the Great Hall. Both Slytherin and Gryffindors held their breath, waiting for what was about to be said. Dumbledore smiled gently. “It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to an enemy, but just as much to stand up to a friend. I, therefore, award ten points to Neville Longbottom.”

Pansy winced at the sheer volume of the cheers that followed Dumbledore’s words. The whole Gryffindor table erupted with cheers and both Ron and Harry stood up to join in. Strangely even the students at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff table were cheering for them. Pansy clapped, smiling at Hermione who now seemed like she had been told the best news of her life. Pansy turned towards Neville, offering him a grin and a thumbs-up. The boy smiled back at her before he was engulfed in hugs from a number of Gryffindor students.

“Which means we need a little change of decoration,” Dumbledore stated, clapping his hands together. Suddenly the silk drapes that had been hanging from the ceiling with the Slytherin snake and color disappeared and were replaced with ones that showed the Gryffindor lion and the red and yellow color of its house.

This was probably one of the best evenings Pansy had ever had. She was surrounded by people who somehow considered her a friend and they were all celebrating. She could tell that the people at the Slytherin table were glaring at them but she was too happy to properly look at them. Pansy was content with enjoying the feast and the company of her friends for the time being.

***-***-***

During the last few days of school, Pansy had honestly forgotten that they had done exams and that they would eventually get their grades back. Interestingly enough she had actually gotten pretty decent grades in all of her classes, though her scores in Potion were definitely above average.

The ride to King’s Cross Station on the Hogwarts Express was quick and Pansy would have spent the whole trip sleeping if Ron hadn’t woken her when the snack trolley passed their booth to have another Chocolate frog-eating competition, much to Hermione's displeasure.

Pansy descended the Hogwarts Express and immediately recognized the gaggle of Weasleys that were obviously waiting for Ron. She was dragged towards them by Fred and George who seemed eager to introduce her to their mother.

“Hey, mom,” Ron mumbled. Mrs. Weasley smiled down at him, hugging Ron tightly. Pansy snickered as she watched Ron try to wriggle out of the hug. Fred snorted. “Lay off a little Ma, don’t want little Ronald to suffocate.” Mrs. Weasley reluctantly let go of Ron, focusing her attention towards Pansy and Harry who were awkwardly standing away from the rest of the Weasley’s.

“Hi, Harry.” Mrs. Weasley said, smiling. Harry smiled back. “Nice to see you again Mrs. Weasley.” Pansy gulped when Mrs. Weasley turned her gaze towards her. “And you must be the Pansy Parkinson that my sons mentioned.” Pansy chuckled nervously. “Yes, that would be me. Thank you for the jumper at Christmas, you shouldn’t have.” Mrs. Weasley shook her head. “Nonsense, it was the least I could do for one of my son’s friends.”

“Pansy?”

Pansy turned and saw her father making his way towards her. “Hello father, I was just speaking with my friends.” Phillip chuckled. “Of course, it’s nice to meet you all, I am Pansy’s father, Phillip Parkinson. Pansy, your mother is waiting for us.”

Harry held a hand out, shaking Phillip’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, sir. I am Harry Potter” Ron instead looked Phillip up and down before nodding. “I’m Ron, it’s nice to meet you I guess.” Phillip smiled at them before holding a hand out towards Mrs. Weasley. “It’s nice to see you again Molly, how’s Arthur doing?”

Pansy ignored the whole adult talk and instead was pulled aside by Harry and Ron to go say bye to Hermione. The bookworm was standing with two adults who were most likely her parents. Pansy frowned, they looked out of place and didn’t seem comfortable being at the station.

“Hey ‘Mione!” Harry exclaimed happily, jogging up to the girl. Hermione smiled as they approached. “Hi, guys. These are my parents.” Pansy nervously eyed the muggles, they seemed friendly enough. She offered Hermione a hug. “My mother doesn’t want to waste much time so I’m going to be going. She’s probably already waiting.”

“Oh, well enjoy your summer, Pansy,” Hermione said. Ron waved at her. “Give your mother hell for me.” Pansy chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do okay. And Potter, I heard that your cousin was giving you trouble right?” Harry nodded.

Pansy grinned. “Make sure to show him what exactly you can do with magic yeah?” Harry laughed. “Of course, see you next year, Pansy.” She smiled, waving at them as she walked back over to her father.

When Pansy returned to the area where her father had been, Draco’s mother was standing with him, talking about who knows what. Draco stood to the side, sulking most likely. “Hey, Drac.” Draco hummed in acknowledgment. Pansy shrugged. “So, this was an interesting year, huh?”

Draco sighed. “It doesn’t matter Pansy. By the way, our parents are having another get together over dinner, apparently, Daphne and Blaise will be there.” Pansy chuckled. “Thank Merlin. With you three I might actually get some good entertainment.”

“Paul, we are leaving so please hurry.” The voice of her mother was heard from behind them.

Pansy grit her teeth, turning to walk towards her. Draco held her hand soothingly. “Well then, shall we?” Pansy smiled slightly. “Of course.” She uttered before following after her parents and Draco’s mother as they exited the station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you have any suggestions!
> 
> The second part of this series should be out sometime next week so stay tuned.


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